


Dealer

by arealrowdydirtyboy



Series: Unforseen Circumstances [1]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Canon Compliant, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Smut, Violence, in their own... special way..., please someone tell illumi that maple syrup is not a drink, they deal with changing relationship dynamics, they go to a party in disguise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:14:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25759435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arealrowdydirtyboy/pseuds/arealrowdydirtyboy
Summary: illumi isn't exactly pleased the first long mission he receives in the midst of looking for killua and alluka, but illumi would never deny a mission. he seeks out hisoka's help to speed up the mission so he can go back to focusing on more priority tasks, but as expected, things don't shape up to be as anyone expects them to.aka, hisoka and illumi are both forces to be reckoned with individually. together, however, they are the definition of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.
Relationships: Hisoka/Illumi Zoldyck
Series: Unforseen Circumstances [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896040
Comments: 58
Kudos: 428





	1. Ally

“You are to dispose of the drug syndicate that deals by the eastern most front of the country, the mission duration is about three and a half months, and you are to leave no survivors once you find their base.”

Illumi blinked at the orders from his father, taken aback slightly only by a fraction of a second, before his trained neutrality snapped back into place like a stone.

Illumi’s missions were never so long.

The longest he had taken to complete a mission was a couple of weeks, a month, max. He found it never took much time to find his target, and dispose of them, efficient and precise as he was. He blinked at his father once more, seated across from Illumi at his royal seat with Mike sleeping by his side, as Illumi looked into piercing blue eyes analyzing him carefully, before speaking, “Yes father”.

Silva trained his blue eyes onto his son, having taken notice of his surprise. Illumi was his firstborn, ordered and carefully crafted into a weapon strong enough that could protect his brothers-- Illumi was the intended child for the role of right-hand man to the heir of the throne. His most reliable son was also the hardest one to read, from the others. Nevertheless, Silva knew that Illumi was the only one that could be entrusted with this mission.

The eastern-wing crime syndicate leader, coined the Dealer, had a large bounty over his head. His death, and the death of his organization would mean the destabilization of the monopoly he held over the east’s drug dealings, namely the cocaine trade. After having claimed control of the entire faction’s product line, the organization went into hiding, ruling the cocaine trade from the shadows and erasing any trace of their activity. Background information on the organization became barren, having been erased from hunter databases entirely, whistleblowers and any word-of-mouth mentions of names or trade details would go missing. A man who claimed to know the identity of several of the Dealer's most important men on discrete forum pages was later identified on a public street, having been reduced to a nearly unidentifiable bloody mess, hair ripped to shreds, limbs torn, a face of horror imprinted on his face, even in death. Their organization couldn’t be traced, still, despite leaving behind bloodshed after bloodshed of mysterious murders and disappearances. Neighboring crime syndicates would pay a hefty price to have such a group dismembered.

Killing the dealer and his men would not be difficult. Finding it however, was another story.

Finally, Silva spoke, “I have decided to assign you with this mission, because of your ability to find people that wish to not be found. This will be an undercover mission, so you will have to be discreet at all times, and leave no traces of yourself”

“Meaning, you will not be able to return to the manor until you complete the mission”

Illumi was standing at attention in front of Silva, expression unwavering, not giving way to any of the hesitation he let slip a moment earlier. The lights in the room casted shadows across them both, across Illumi’s eyes, which were their usual impassive appearance and empty like a bottomless void, a pause in the space between father and son accentuated by only the sound of Mike’s slow, deep breathing as he slept by Silva’s side.

“I understand, Father”

Silva quirked a small smile at his son.

“It will be reason enough to get you out of the manor for longer than you ever have before. Consider this mission to be your first training to complete prolonged missions for longer than you’re used to, as you will be receiving more like this from now on”

Silva depended on his first son’s dedication and loyalty to his family, but he admitted that his attachment to the comfort of the manor couldn’t last forever. He had to learn to navigate outside the manor for long stretches of time to be able to be a future asset for the heir. The heir couldn’t leave the manor for so long, shouldn’t, not when somebody else can do it for him. So Illumi’s job was to get used to jobs that he would have to fulfill in Killua’s stead, when he became heir.

Illumi only blinked and nodded, understanding the implication of his newfound role in the structure of his family, it dawned on him like a headache he would rightfully ignore. He would take care of the long, boring, dirty work. And he would do so perfectly precise, without complaint.

“Good” Silva said with a single nod of his head, a sense of finality to his movement, “I will send you more details on the Dealer’s last rumored whereabouts when you are done getting your things ready.”

Ilumi turned, giving his father a final nod, passing the guards that stood at attention on the outside of the double doors, and headed to his room to pack a suitcase with essentials and clean his needles before he set off to begin his long mission.

Once he was finished, he fished for his phone, considering it briefly.

He thought for a moment, considering and internalizing a mental list of the benefits of his options, weighing the pros against the cons, before he decided and pulled up a list of contacts.

If he was going to now be given the missions no Zoldyck child wanted to fulfill, given how much of a hindrance it was to go months searching for a single target, a ghost, going after lead after lead, much like he did for Killua-- if he was going to be derailed from his other, more covert mission of trying to find Killua and Alluka-- he would at least bring an ally along to make the job go along faster.

Completing this mission as fast as possible would help alleviate the bitter taste that swarmed in his mouth. He would ignore the feeling of sour discontent that threatened to surface his mind along with it.

_Illumi: 5:45 PM-- Hello Hisoka, I require your assistance with a mission. Meet me at the bar nearby your apartment in an hour so we can further discuss this in person._

Illumi sent out the text before pocketing the phone and headed out of the manor, bidding it goodbye for the months he would be away from it, and made his way for Heaven’s Arena where Hisoka resided as a floor master.

\---

The crowd erupted in hysterics and horror, as it often did when Hisoka fought, as the opponent before him erupted in a fountain of blood from the junction between his neck and shoulder.

  
The man fell on his knees, confusion imprinted on his face as he stared with desperate abandon at Hisoka, fear and shock on his face boiling over much to Hisoka's pleasure, before finally his head dipped forward and the light in his eyes shuddered as the life was drained out of them with a flicker and a snap.

It was Hisoka's favorite sight when he fought, seeing the life in his opponents' eyes drain out of them as they died with confusion and fear boiling over before darkness took over completely and they stilled.

"You've seen it for yourselves folks, Hisoka wins yet again against his opponent without even a scratch on him!  
And under 5 minutes as well! Will anyone be able to break Hisoka's undefeated reign!?" The announcer wailed, feeding the energy of the crowd as people held signs with Hisoka's name, fans made up with his signature facepaint donning shirts that read in large pink bolded cursive-- bungee gum-- with a picture of Hisoka's smirking winking face directly below it.

It was all rather cute.

But incredibly boring.

His opponent that evening was the floor master on the 205th floor, a manipulator with the power to control puppets on strings. Hisoka toyed with him for a while, lavishing in breaking his cool air of confidence, until his opponent lost his composure completely despite the initial calm demeanor he presented himself with so proudly-- assuring Hisoka's victory in a match that didn't last any longer than 3 minutes and 25 seconds.

Hisoka sighed sufferingly as he left the stadium, heading up to his apartment, the noises of the crowd fading in the distance as he boarded the elevator exclusive to floor masters.

The fight had been terribly unfulfilling. He hadn't even figured out what Hisoka's hatsu was and he was dead before he got the chance to even consider it.

Really, with how much Hisoka quotes the properties of his bungee gum, his challengers should piece together what his abilities were.

Frustration piled in his stomach, a need to fight someone on his caliber riling up the bloodlust he had hoped to satisfy when he signed up for a random battle against any floormaster at the front desk. Perhaps he would go out drinking and bring home a man or two this night.

He was in dire need of stress relief.

Right before he reached the door for his apartment, a ping of his phone alerted him.

Reaching for it and opening up the text with a cool indifference, Hisoka's eyes widened a fraction and a grin tugged on his face when he read the contents of the message.

Illumi always knew how to entertain Hisoka at the best of times.  
Hisoka chuckled as he entered his apartment finally, having been paused at the door with a lewd, excited expression overtaking his features as he imagined what Illumi had in store for him.

He would be entertained that night, afterall.

As quickly as he could, Hisoka replaced his bloodied pack of cards for a new set, tidied up his appearance in the mirror (which didn't take long, as he didn't even break a sweat in his fight), and headed out the door once more to the bar around the block of Heaven's Arena.

\---

Illumi looked up from his whiskey on the rocks as he took a sip from it, eyes locking on to the presence that found its way onto the only other stool next to him in the otherwise unoccupied bar, the only other occupants burly men slumped over their drinks in a drunken stupor, hazy and miserable.

"Hello Hisoka", Illumi acknowledged him as he slid a second whiskey on the rocks towards his direction. Hisoka took it appreciatively as he sat down, leaning his chin down on his palm as he gave Illumi a quick once-over. He wore a white short-sleeved silk top and wide hemmed pants that opened at the bottom with red flames adorned on them.

He also had a single suitcase by his side.

“Hello, Illumi”

Hisoka eyed the suitcase curiously as he began to tend to his drink, before looking back up to meet Illumi's blank gaze.

"It's rare that you go out of your way to ask me for my help for a mission. Something special happen?"

"Not really,” Illumi stared into his cup, brows faintly pinched and then released in a millisecond, imperceptible if Hisoka weren't already watching him closely, “I was assigned to a mission that could take months. With your help, I believe it would take half of the proposed amount of time to complete"

Hisoka hummed, taking another sip. He continued to stare at Illumi, golden eyes analyzing him.

"And what reason would I have to help you, considering it seems you could handle this just fine alone?"

Just as he had hoped, Hisoka relished in the look of surprise Illumi shot his way, his lips parting slightly and void eyes blinking.

Of course Hisoka would help Illumi, there was no way he would turn down such an interesting offer. The fact that Illumi thought the mission tough enough to have to resort to recruiting him for his help, the thought of such a concept made his stomach tighten with a faint sense of arousal. A months long mission that Illumi didn't want to handle alone, assigned to Illumi alone. Except Hisoka would be there, too. The potential such a scenario had… Hisoka could have a lot of fun.

Still. He could pretend.

“Ah. You are asking what’s in it for you, then.”

Hisoka hummed, eyes glinting and bright in the dim lazy lighting of the bar.

“I’m not sure how to answer that. I was sure you’d say yes and we’d be done talking”

That made Hisoka’s eyes crinkle at the edges with humor, He knew him well enough to know that was exactly what would happen, but still, “You’re not going to offer me something else?”

Illumi hummed for a moment.

“I thought it went without saying I’ll give you half of the commission I earn once the mission is done, but I know you aren’t referring to money. What else could you possibly want besides the promise of entertainment?”

“You are correct to assume I’m not interested in money…”

Hisoka leaned forward on his stool, chin in both palms now as he cradled his own cheeks, a sly grin spreading across his face, as he edged ever so slightly closer to where Illumi sat staring at him while swirling the remainder of his drink around. Hisoka narrowed his eyes and let his gaze travel up and down Illumi’s exposed arms and up to the long column of his neck, a lewdness in his voice rising when he says, “So then, you promise to keep me entertained?”, “Three months would be the longest amount of time we spend together… If I get bored, I might start to want more payment, you know”

Hisoka licks his lips, puts the weight of his head onto one hand and lets the other fall onto the table to draw invisible shapes onto its mahogany countertop, “Or at least, not in the form of cash.”

As Illumi continued to blankly stare at Hisoka, still swirling his drink in hand in the same constant rhythmic motion, Hisoka notes that he had begun to look exasperated despite his face maintaining its controlled neutral appearance. Hisoka regards with satisfaction the slight rise of his shoulders, the subtle straightening of his back, and the way he downs the rest of the liquid in his cup in one gulp, ice cubes clanking loudly back down the bottom when he quietly places his drink on the table.

Hisoka knew he was successfully flustering Illumi’s otherwise stoic demeanor, if the minute changes of his body’s expression was anything to go by, even when his face revealed nothing.

He noticed he was a lot more expressive than he initially bargained.

How interesting.

“Are you bored, Hisoka?”

“Hmm, that would be my default mood, yes. But why do you ask?”

“Because you are teasing me for the sake of either picking a fight with me, or test whether I would still ask you to join me on my mission despite your current behavior.”

Hisoka pursed a grin. More perceptive than he bargained for, too. He wasn’t too surprised about that one, though. Ah, although he wasn’t entirely wrong, he wasn’t right either. He downed his drink, and only smiled a little wider.

“So I’m right,” Illumi continues, plucking an ice cube from his cup between his fingers and regarded it before plopping it into his mouth, “I thought there was no way you’d actually refuse the offer. And you’ve never tried to raise a reaction out of me before, for fun. So you must be really bored if you’re trying to do so now”

“That’s not true”

Illumi tilts his head. He swallows the entirety of the ice cube that he had plopped into his mouth in a single gulp.

Hisoka watches it travel down his throat, vaguely mentally noting that Illumi swallows ice cubes, and that was a thing he did, just normally and casually in the middle of conversations. He looks back up to Illumi’s expecting eyes, choosing to dismiss it.

“I’ve teased you before”

“No, you haven’t. This is definitely new. And annoying. Was I right that you want to get me angry enough for a fight, or that you are testing my resolve?” Illumi’s pitch black eyes bore into Hisoka’s own gold orbs even as he plucked another ice cube and plopped it into his mouth. The discomfort in his posture had already left, leaving only a curiosity in its wake.

Illumi swallowed the icecube while he waited for Hisoka's response, and this time Hisoka had to mentally acknowledge it. Why was he doing that? Is this a natural thing Illumi has always done and he just never knew until this moment? He traced the icecube as it went down, down, into a final bob of his throat, disappearing. Hisoka looked mildly discomforted, and he didn’t even try to mask it, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed.

“Hm?”

“Which is it?”

“Oh. Yes. Neither. I just wanted to gain a reaction out of you”

“I see”

“I succeeded”

“I did not react to your attempts at flirting”

“You did. I thought you’d either be uncomfortable, angry, or seduced. And I was right. About one of them, hopefully right about the others, too. Also, I will help in your mission. I just had the most unsatisfying fight and it’s left me hungry and frustrated” Hisoka let out all at once, having been thoroughly distracted by Illumi swallowing ice cubes casually.

“That is a shame” Illumi said without any sort of actual remorse for the magician in his tone of voice, and gulped down the final ice cube in his drink, making Hisoka cringe only slightly in his seat, “I will let you gather your things while I sort out the details of where to begin our search. I will see you in a little while, when you are done” Illumi had already started walking away, suitcase in hand, leaving Hisoka, as he called back with a final, “See you until then, Illumi”.

Hisoka was left alone for a minute, glancing at Illumi’s now iceless empty cup next to him, reflecting on the two new discoveries Hisoka had about Illumi in just the short meeting with him, before getting up to go prepare his things. Hisoka wondered, vaguely, what other surprises the man held-- Illumi was certainly interesting in a way he hadn't bothered to consider previously, given the near professional state of their relationship. He thought back to the first time he felt Illumi's full blown bloodlust directed right at him upon threatening to kill Killua, even as a joke. He smiled.

This would be a fun mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont even know dude, i started this fic for the sole purpose of wanting to provide the hisoillu fandom with another very underappreciated hisoillu dynamic-- the "illumi is lowkey hella weird and hisoka is just often thrown for a whole ass loop, at random" dynamic. bc i think it fits them well. and i imagined illumi eating a lemon like a fruit and i think that made a switch inside me flip. and i guess a plot occurred??? is this fic even decent, i dont know the last time i've written anything even remotely like a fic was when i was like 14.  
> hisoillu is fun <3.


	2. Simple

Smoke rose up in tendrils up to the shoddy roof the man found himself under, surrounded by grim men in wooly trenchcoats, the cold draft seeping under the door was not enough to chill the warmth in his body felt by the effects of his 4th shot of vodka, the intoxicant sticking to the undersides of his shoes whenever he walked across the bar, making his face go numb as he filled himself with it.

The bar was empty besides the dealer and his men that stood by his side, smoking cigars and offering him his own.

He accepted the blunt of the expensive cigar, letting his men light it for him as he stared on to the scene before him-- the bar was a mess, glass littered about crudely, drinks spilled hazardously and six men lay bloodied on the floor shot dead, dealt with by his men in an attempt at catching the boss by surprise. Another failed assassination attempt.

The floor was covered in blood and brain, and the bar was in disarray but the man smoking sat staring at the scene before him with legs crossed, untouched, prim fitted suit and tie unwrinkled, a cold indifference settling in his deep set eyes.

He put a wrist up to his bearded face. It was 2 AM. The last call had not been called yet. It would not be, the bartender lifeless and wide-eyed across the table.

Collateral damage.

A shame it was, the bartender had known the man’s identity for the months he visited the bar in biweekly night visits but kept quiet out of fear of getting involved-- his favorite kind of person, they never had to be bought out and he didn’t have to get his hands dirty with their blood.

This was the third time he was found by rival drug syndicates, despite having relocated to different remote locations every time he was. This remote, no-name shoddy bar business had been no exception. He’d burn it to the ground before the sun rose, the evidence of the bodies along with it, what he had seen that night would decay like the soot in the air.

He exhaled out the smoke he had kept in his lungs until they gave out and he had to breathe again.

He would have to resort to his last option, now that he was being targeted ceaselessly by multiple rival parties, before the threat of his assassination loomed with stronger enemies going for his head.

He pulled out a thick black phone, dialing a familiar number with nimble fingers, until a familiar voice picked up on the other end--

“Chrollo, I have a plan, and I need your help, for old times’ sake”

\---

It was nearly 8PM by the time Hisoka and Illumi boarded the airship for the coordinates provided to Illumi by Silva in a digital map of the dealer’s last rumored whereabouts. Illumi had met up with Hisoka after an hour of doing his own research, but found the only data he could trace was the same his father had provided him.

So much for finding another lead before they embarked on their journey. It didn’t sit well with Illumi, being at a disadvantage in information, it felt like having to play tag while blindfolded, and he didn’t even know what his target looked like.

Illumi is nothing if not patient, however, his endless promise to chase Killua down to the ends of the earth testament to that fact alone.

It didn’t change the fact that he felt a bitter annoyance flow through him, surfacing despite his efforts to contain it. He shouldn’t be so bothered, at this point-- hours had passed since he first was assigned the mission, when minutes should have been enough to settle into acceptance and focus on the task at hand with a calculated unfeeling precision.

\-- _lumi_ \--.

However, he considered Hisoka’s behavior at the bar earlier-- Hisoka had maintained a distant relationship of strict business with him until now, if he chose to continue this route of breaching that relationship and walking towards unprofessional territories in the attempt to put a rise to Illumi, he would find nothing but bloodthirsty sharks.

A simple cause and effect to his actions, a lesson in karma he had taught his siblings in the past. The rhetoric of logic he instructed, to leave upon judging an enemy to be stronger in combat, to face the repercussions of your actions when deserved, to be awarded only when it was merited. Maybe he needed to teach Hisoka, as well.

\-- _Illumi_ \--

At the moment, sour mood as he was in, Illumi was not to be trifled with but still his expression gave no hints to his internal brooding.

He would keep his distance from Hisoka for the time being, until he had assurance he could behave himself. If he wandered too close he had less of the opportunity to manipulate him from afar, to control him to do his bidding without his knowing--

The thought of investing time to buy a spray bottle flashed through his mind briefly--

“Illumi”

Illumi blinked, snapped out of his thoughts.

Hisoka had been calling him.

He looked up at Hisoka seated across from him in the booth of the airship, arms and legs crossed over eachother, looking hopelessly amused. He wore a different outfit from the one he had seen only a single hour ago, and he seemed freshly bathed with damp skin that smelled potently of cinnamon (it made Illumi’s nose itch, even seated from the distance across Hisoka as he was), his hair and makeup done again, he assumed.

How he even had the time to pack his things, shower, do his hair and makeup, in a single hour Illumi did not even bother to consider.

“Yes?” Illumi answered, calmly.

“Hm, I thought you had fallen asleep with your eyes open. So even you can be so lost in thoughts you tune everything else out around you”

Illumi crossed his arms and his legs, mirroring Hisoka’s posture across from him.

“We are on an airship without any immediate danger, and expected to reach our destination in 15 hours. I do not see the harm in letting myself consider my thoughts more than my surroundings, for a moment’s time”

“So you trust me enough to let your guard down around me?” Hisoka mused, an eyebrow lifting, as if he had just made a point.

Foolish, Illumi thought, that he thinks he has ever fully let his guard down in front of anyone for decades of his life. Such a thing was trained out of him by force at the age of 6.

“No”, was all Illumi could muster, before he turned his head to look out the viewing window, stars beginning to twinkle in the nightsky beneath them. He wouldn’t bite the hook of Hisoka’s verbal bait.

Ignore him.

“That’s all you’re giving me?”

“Yup”

“Boring” Hisoka huffed, having wished to continue the banter with Illumi. Except they weren’t bantering-- Hisoka was playing pingpong against a wall, and he was bound to get smacked in the face with his own serve eventually.

Hisoka eventually conceded, dropping the hopes to continue conversation with Illumi, and he mirrored him by turning to look out the window.

A comfortable silence fell over them, the only noise filling the space between them being the quiet hum of the airship.

At some point in the following hours, Hisoka had spread out around him, his legs stretching to Illumi’s side of the booth, feet laying on top of the side of Illumi’s seat. One arm twisted behind his head and gripped the top of his seat while the other supported the weight of his cheek as he leaned on his palm. Illumi stayed confined to his space, straight as a rod, arms crossed and his eyes remained fixed on the viewing window to his side, eyes unblinking and vacant.

At some point, Illumi’s breathing slowed to a deep and steady rhythm.

Hisoka, stretched out across his seat, slouching deeper still with his cheek pressing on his hand and his other arm moving to lay comfortably on top of his head, stayed awake.

He stared at Illumi with an almost bored expression. His expression shuttered and boredom disappeared as quickly as he noticed Illumi’s deep and steady breathing, a dawning realization that made an amused smile break across his features.

Illumi was sleeping, and he slept with his eyes open.

The man slept in holes in the ground, so he really shouldn’t be so amused by the simple fact. Illumi’s sleeping habits had always been peculiar.

But Hisoka was witness to the spectacle and that was enough to entertain him in the quiet slow nothingness of the airship trip.

Hisoka pulled out a card from his pocket, savoring his lips as arousal coursed through him faintly. He could kill Illumi right then and there. The thought was almost humorous to him, letting himself kill off such a worthy opponent without so much as a serious fight, but the opportunity itself made his blood thrum through his body regardless.

He sighed, and closed his eyes, imagining the day he would stand before Illumi, both of them bloodied and raw and broken, as he dragged his card across his jugular, the final blow to a worthy match--- Illumi’s needles would probably pierce him all across his body before he dealt the killing slice.

Illumi might even win, if he let his guard down for a second.

It would be a delicious fight.

Before he could weigh the consequences, Hisoka sat up in his seat somewhat and moved a pale hand towards Illumi’s direction slowly, carefully making its path towards his face.

A mere inch away now, grin growing wider, Hisoka extended a finger and poked Illumi on the cheek, squishing his cheek to the side his mouth.

Before Hisoka could react, a hand shot out and grabbed Hisoka by the wrist, the bone creaking under its force on impact.

  
Bloodlust exploded out of Illumi on instinct, filling the space between them with an endlessly dark aura, where peace and quiet existed before and was extinguished, a suffocating air around them now which felt nothing but exhilarating to Hisoka.

Hisoka smiled comically, an easygoing expression on his face despite the bone that was beginning to creak under Illumi’s hand.

“Sorry~ I didn’t mean to wake you”

Illumi blinked several times as he shook away the sleep from his eyes and woke up, releasing his bone crushing grip on Hisoka’s wrist and rubbed a hand against his groggy, dry eyes.

“Clearly you did mean to wake me. Why did you poke me?”

“I was bored and was curious what would happen”

Illumi’s eyes were still half-lidded with residual sleep, and he looked at Hisoka like he was stuck in a fever dream, and at the same time, like he couldn’t care less and wanted to go back to sleep.

Not a morning person, he sees. Well, it was still the middle of the night. He could test that theory when morning actually came.

“Ah, I understand”, Illumi lied, as dismissive as can be, “Well, good night, Hisoka. If you poke me again, I might cut off your hand next time. It’s just instinct, so don’t take it personal” and with that, Illumi dropped his head and fell back asleep, eyes still opened.

Hisoka--nearly-- felt disappointed that his experiment didn’t lead to more of an altercation. He thought about fighting Illumi a lot lately, more than he usually did, and he’s only been stuck with him for a day now, Hisoka mused. He forced his excitement to recede back into himself, as he settled back into his seat, his curiosity abated for the night.

Hisoka fell asleep finally, thinking about Illumi with his elegant hands wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air circulation as his aura flooded him at every angle, before Hisoka placed his ace of hearts right in between the assassin's ribcage, stopping his heart right before he could stop his. Hisoka wondered how Illumi looked like when he was dying. Would his lifeless eyes stay as they were, even while he was dying, or would they spring to life in the desperate attempt to hold on to it?

Hisoka drifted away with newfound dreams about huge black irises suffocating the light that entered it, giving way to no window of the soul. Eyes round and deep and dangerous that could drown anyone in despair, that could get Hisoka addicted and overcome with the urge to kill if he wandered in too deep.

He slept peacefully.

\---

Illumi and Hisoka are up by the time the airship finally reaches its destination at the break of the first morning light.

Illumi yawns, stretching his limbs in front of him with groggy blinking eyes fighting to stay open all the way as he awakens from slumber, finding himself half laid across Hisoka’s legs which were positioned next to him on his seat between himself and the window.

“Good morning”, Hisoka announces, the pep in his voice enough to make Illumi visibly cringe without meaning to. The magician was already fully awake, seemingly only waiting for Illumi to wake up before they began their day. His hair and makeup were intact, the evidence of sleep unapparent for his lack of bedhair, voice warm and pristine as ever.

Illumi can only grunt in response.

Hisoka smiles at that, a glint in his eyes, as if he were laughing at a joke only he knew, and Illumi unwittingly became the butt of. Illumi finds he isn’t fond of that look in his eyes-- the one he gave with the air of confidence that he knew something he didn’t.

He yawns once more, shaking the sleep from his mind, righting the loose strands of hair that became frazzled and messy in sleep.

If Illumi felt the slightest bit bothered that Hisoka had woken up before him and seemed to take joy in watching Illumi’s groggy sleepy-induced self, he didn’t let it show. It’s not like Hisoka naturally woke up every morning perfectly made up and smug.

But no matter.

Back to business.

Illumi grabbed the invading pair of legs that were still firmly planted on his seat next to his thighs, and placed them on the ground, urging Hisoka to sit correctly. He pulled out his phone on the next beat and leaned closer to Hisoka, phone in hand, digital map displaying on the screen of the phone.

Hisoka followed his unspoken instructions, leaning in towards Illumi to look at the map on the screen.

“There is a city west from the airport station we’ve landed in. Even further west, past the city’s borders, is unclaimed middle-ground territory,” he pointed to the area on the map bordering all around the city. "A forest that extends for kilometers out in every direction. The lead we are following takes us to this unclaimed territory. There is reason to believe the dealer’s headquarters are somewhere within this forest region,” Illumi leans away now, pocketing his phone once more, and continues without pause, “Perhaps his headquarters are subdivided by divisions and scattered-- if they are, we will need to find every division associated with the dealer's organization and dispose of everyone. That will be the due time you can go all out and have your fun.”

Hisoka hummed in appreciation, “Sounds good.” A short pause, “And I am assuming that you have extra information to help us determine where first to search?”

Illumi nodded, offering a small smile. “There is a third party that is willing to help us, yes, on the condition that we maintain absolute secrecy and blend in with the city’s populace. She is a waitress in a small backalley food and dining place, run by her father. It’s indiscriminate enough of a location that it is used as a meeting ground for crime leaders to discuss business.”

Hisoka understood, “Hm, a family-owned business used as a feeding ground for dangerous men-- the daughter is willing to talk because she wants them gone, but can’t refuse their being there either”

“Yes, and because her father doesn’t know of her involvement with us, we must pass as travelers looking for a quiet place to dine away from the city’s bustling capital”

“I see, an undercover intermission before the main course”

“We’ll depart there now, I’ve already rented us a hotel near the diner”

“Are we staying the night there?”, Hisoka said surprised.

“No, but we’ll need to change out of our clothes.”

“I see.”

“Neither of us are very discreet, looking as we are. We’d arouse suspicion instantly the moment any local saw us.”

Hisoka scrutinized their appearances. Illumi wore the same wide hemmed flame pants and silk shirt he had wore the previous night at the bar, with the addition of needles being stored throughout the top of his silk top on his chest-- large gold heads protruding in the glinting light of the morning sun.

He looked at himself now-- he wore one of his favorite outfits, a white sleeveless crop top with pink diamonds and hearts decorating the bottom, a tight black undershirt peeking underneath, pink wraps around the expanse of his legs and arms, and he wore his favorite heels. Not to mention his slicked up red hair and bright facepaint-- Hisoka stuck out like a sore thumb wherever he went, just the way he wanted it.

He made a good point. Although, they could just change in a bathroom.

He pictured it, and the imagery of Illumi changing in a public restroom made him want to snort. Of course he’d rent out a hotel for that reason alone.

They marked their destination-- a cramped shoddy diner located away from the city’s center.

\---

When Hisoka and Illumi walked in, suitcases left back at their hotel, the waitress had already been expecting them.

Her nervous eyes locked onto them immediately, knowing they were the ones she was waiting for. Sweat had already begun to bead at her temple when she approached them, notepad in hand, and she seated them at the very back corner of the diner at the most private table available.

She clumsily handed each a menu with trembling hands, “Are you ready to order or can I start you two off with some drinks?”

“Water for us both,” Illumi replied, taking the menu the waitress had given him with the note placed discreetly inside.

“And two plates of pancakes,” Hisoka chimed in.

“Of course, I’ll come back with your orders and drinks.” She walked away with a nervous step, away from the two, and back into the kitchen where her father prepped orders. It wasn’t a busy morning.

Hisoka eyed Illumi, waiting patiently as Illumi picked the note from between the menu’s pages and read it. His red bangs framed his eyes in front of his face, and he wore a simple white cotton shirt with a deep V-neck and tight jeans. He insisted on keeping his heels on. Illumi had his hair in a low ponytail and wore a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants with black sneakers. He still managed to look elegant in gray commoner clothes as he sat formally erect in his seat.

\-- _Last meeting was the biggest one they held. They ordered us to close the diner for the day. The men that come here are regulars that come here often, but that last time, there were a dozen men in suits I hadn’t seen before. I overheard bits and pieces of their conversation as I served them food and drinks._ \--

The note continued on the back, and Illumi flipped it to continue reading

\-- _They said a large party would be held to end the war between all the different drug leaders. They didn’t say where it’d be held, just that the dealer would be there, and that he wanted to negotiate a treaty with the rest of them._ \--

Illumi blinked with an indiscernible expression, then passed the note to Hisoka for him to read when the waitress returned with two cups of water and two plates of pancakes stacked high.

When she finished placing them down, she made eye contact with Illumi. She shuddered under the scrutiny of his dark fish eyed stare, and Illumi nodded.

Message received.

It was a lot of vital information to allow a civilian to hear. It was an act of arrogance, as if even if the waitress were to spill as she was doing, they had the confidence that they still wouldn’t be able to be found, let alone wiped out. It was ridiculous, that level of unfounded arrogance.

“Enjoy your food,” she said as she looked away from the two and off to the side, tension carried in her step as she walked away.

Hisoka passed the note back to Illumi, who proceeded to fold the note neatly into 4 squares, before chewing it and swallowing it. That way, he’d leave no trace of evidence that gave away the informant’s involvement, as they agreed.

Hisoka stared at him with a constipated look and blinked twice, the same expression he gave him the previous night, Illumi considered. In the back of his head, Illumi felt a strange sense of satisfaction at being the root cause for that expression. If he were anything like Hisoka, he believed he’d have something between a smirk and shit-eating grin on his face whenever he caused Hisoka to furrow his brows in mild bewilderment. Illumi dawned on the idea that he enjoyed throwing Hisoka off guard, finding it satisfying to metaphorically throw the rug out from under him. It was a random based desire, and he pushed it to the back of his mind.

He considered his pancakes, looking away from Hisoka’s short-lived befuddled expression, and took a bite in silence. Judging they weren’t sweet enough, he grabbed the maple syrup bottle to his left and poured some on his stack.

“We will depart once we eat, it will be a lot easier to find such an important gathering, no matter how hidden they think they are. It makes our job a lot more convenient,” Illumi exhaled in relief. He continued to pour syrup even as he spoke.

“I don’t think it’ll be so simple,” Hisoka mused, taking his own bite of pancake as he stared mildly at the unending stream of syrup that fell upon Illumi’s pancakes, watching it amused as he put his chin in hand. Illumi’s pancakes started to take on the form of an abandoned tower protruding under an sea of syrup, “Either this dealer of yours is more cowardly than expected and his plans to negotiate a treaty is genuine, or he has a more sinister ulterior motive”

“The target’s goals do not matter to me. Either way, we will find him and the rest of his men and dispose of them all. There could not be a better scenario.” If Illumi did not stop pouring, surface tension would begin to build and syrup would overflow from his plate.

“I care about the dealer’s goals. If he has another hidden plan in store to kill his rivals, our plans will have to change and I could have even more fun,” Hisoka grinned knowingly, as if he could already guess what the future bestowed, “And something tells me you think so too”

Illumi hummed, considering this, still pouring syrup onto his miserable and drenched pancakes (it was an amazing feat of science that the syrup had not yet overflown from his plate), “We will have to join the party ourselves and gather more intel there”.

Hisoka’s gaze from the syrup bottle flicked up to Illumi as his smile grew. After a beat longer, Illumi put the bottle back down, having consumed more than half of its contents.

He took a bite, finally, satisfied with the flavor. That was that, then.

“Do you need a straw?”

“Huh?”

“For your syrup soup”, Hisoka pointed to his plate.

“No, I have my own straw here”, Illumi pointed his gaze to the straw in his cup of water then back, “But thanks”.

Hisoka suddenly looked like he wanted to laugh, his lips pressed together in a tight purse that stretched upwards and his eyes crinkled and brightened.

Illumi didn’t understand what caused the expression, but he ignored it. He preferred the puzzled, constipated expression he had brought out previously from the magician.

He pulled out the straw from his water cup and used it to drink the syrup that had gathered like a moat around a castle on his plate and frowned when Hisoka let out a quiet snort.

“Does your syrup taste better with the pancakes, or without them?”

Illumi glanced at Hisoka with his straw still in his mouth, and didn’t miss the way he casually placed his hand over his quivering grin. He boasted a friendly expression that made Illumi want to consider stopping by a nearby store to buy a spray bottle after all and use it whenever Hisoka was being mildly annoying--even when he wasn’t intending it. Illumi continued his meal, refusing to meet the amused eyes that regarded him with a grand sense of humor Illumi didn't understand.

They finished their meals in relative silence, the waitress in the kitchen casting glaces every now and then, tense and nervous and seemingly desperate for the men to leave.

\---

  
It was night by the time they decided to set up camp. Illumi had been crouched for half an hour now, tense hands with sharp pointed nails pounding away nonstop at the forest soil beneath him. He was almost done setting up their sleeping quarters for the night.

Usually he would only worry about digging one hole for himself as he slept, but Hisoka had all but disappeared and left Illumi with the burden of digging one out for him as well.

It was not a big deal. The magician would go hunt for food for them, he had announced earlier. But that was half an hour ago, so either the forest surrounding them was impossibly barren of all life, or Hisoka got distracted with something else.

Illumi shrugged internally, he wouldn’t mind it. He thought of the possibility of the clown enacting some secret plan for his own amusement, without Illumi’s knowledge. Perhaps he was making phone calls of his own, some devious little scheme to make the mission more complicated than it had to be.

He knew that playing with fire was not beyond Hisoka-- except Illumi was not fire, he was hot magma but he also knew that’s what Hisoka liked best.

It was of no matter, because Illumi would see through whatever plan Hisoka was likely building up in the shadows. He wouldn’t have recruited him if he wasn’t positive he could slash through Hisoka’s carefully laid out plans, and if he wasn’t prepared to deal with the magician’s schemes. If anything, Hisoka’s meddling was as expected and bothersome as a fly that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times you swatted at it.

He dusted himself off, finally finished digging out his cavern. Illumi was deep within the soil, having vacated a nicely sized hole for the two of them. There was enough space down here for a fire between them, even. Comfortable. Illumi always felt calmer in enclosed spaces.

He sat against the dirt wall beside him, knees pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around his legs, and he stared at the other dirt wall across from him with an even, blank face.

He was alone, for the first time in days.

Hisoka and he set off to the forest days ago, the morning they shared with pancakes was long gone behind them. They were no closer to finding the location of the party, but Illumi wasn’t worried. He was patient. At one point, he would sense a blip of aura, a single mistake even of the slightest kind would have Illumi immediately on their trail, target locked for the kill like an inescapable missile.

He could not envision a scenario where a large gathering of crime leaders could gather together without releasing the slightest hint of aura, of bloodlust, of anything. It was bound to happen-- the only concern was the matter of when.

Illumi released an exhale he didn’t realize he held in during the days of searching, and he let his eyes droop shut.

Minutes passed by until minutes turned into hours, Illumi unmoving and solid still the whole while, eyes closed and breathing controlled, and he found his thoughts unwittingly drifting back to the topic of Hisoka.

Where was he?

Nothing but the silence of the forest replied, a gust of wind overhead moving the leaves of the trees far above him, out of the stillness of his hand made cavern.

Illumi got up, brushed himself off. He would start a fire meanwhile as he waited. Climbing up the cavern walls back out into the open to collect the materials for a fire, he felt a disquiet distantly form at the back of his head that caused a foreign sense of unease to bubble lowly in the pit of his stomach. Illumi’s brow pinched, and he frowned, confused, before he dismissed the feeling entirely.

After he was done collecting, he jumped back into his cozy cavern to start a fire made with twigs and kindling, hair elegantly draping back down onto his shoulders as he landed.

Half an hour more passed before the feeling in his stomach bubbled stronger. Illumi forcefully dismissed the feeling this time, completely confused now with the mind-body disconnect he was experiencing.

His thoughts at the back of his head nagged at him, until he acknowledged it. Was Illumi-- was he worried? Illumi’s nose wrinkled and the bones of his knuckles went up to kiss his mouth in a pensive look.

No way. Worrying implied he cared about Hisoka’s well-being.

Such an emotion would exclusively be reserved for his brothers, except he had only very rarely felt worry for Killua or any of the rest of his siblings. Because he knew his siblings would always listen to him, and heed his words. He didn’t worry for them a single bit. The last time he worried for Killua was when he was three, when he was just beginning to embrace the world around him, young and naive because Illumi had not taught him better yet.

The mere thought of an emotion being wasted on a man like Hisoka was laughable. So then-- if the feeling in the pit of his stomach was not worry-- it must be a similar emotion he had not felt before.

His eyes pinched closed in deep thought as he hummed out loud, tilting his head, the bud of his index finger pressing on his lips in light taps.

Almost as if a short puff of fume began escaping from his ears, Illumi’s face that had been concentrated in thought and confusion, snapped back into his perfect mask of neutrality as he gave up, “Well, who knows” he exclaimed aloud above the crackling of the fire.

He heard a quiet chuckle above him.

Illumi’s head shot up following the noise, and the sight he was greeted with was that of one Hisoka crouching, peering down into the hole with his wrist on his chin and a pursed upward tilt of his lips.

He had approached him using zetsu, while he was deep in thought too. A look of surprise flashed on Illumi’s features before it fell away immediately.

“You do that a lot, you know”

Illumi blinked upwards.

“I could have killed you before you had the chance to snap out of your trance. You shouldn’t fall so deeply into those thoughts of yours, you’ll only give yourself a headache”

Hours had passed with no sign of Hisoka and there Hisoka was, peering down into the hole at ease as if his absence was a few minutes and not several hours. He jumped down into the hole with Illumi, the sound of his heels hitting the floor somewhat echoing in the chamber.

Illumi analyzed his appearance-- a thin sheen of sweat beaded on his neck and made his red hair stick to his face. He hadn’t gelled his hair up in days now, although he still bothered to draw in his usual star and droplet facepaint everyday.

“I would not have been at the mercy of a surprise attack, even while deep in thought”

The fact that he was covered in sweat implied about four options Illumi could consider at the top of his head. It was suspicious, definitely. He needed to manipulate Hisoka into talking since Illumi would rather not risk his alliance by using his needles to figure out whatever scheme Hisoka set off to prepare in the hours he was gone.

“Where did you run off to? I was beginning to think you changed your mind about the mission”

“Right before the real fun began? I’d be crazy to do that”, there was humor in his tone.

The fire crackled in the space between them, and Hisoka approached Illumi with swaying hips, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

“You’re curious, aren’t you? Is that what you were thinking so hard about while I was watching you? Thinking about me?”

“That is a lot of questions, and to answer all of them at once..” Illumi raised a finger up by his face, “You could have ended up dead in a ditch and I would not have bat an eye”

“You’re mean”, but Hisoka sounded like he wanted to laugh at that.

“Did you hunt for food like you said you would?” Illumi followed Hisoka’s every movement, an intense look in his eyes as he prepared to pull Hisoka’s words apart, finding the source of his suspicious behavior within them.

_What are you plotting, Hisoka?_

“Well, sort of” Hisoka’s eyes looked away almost sheepishly from where they had been locked onto Illumi’s. “I ordered take-out instead”.

“Eh?” The intensity of Illumi’s stare fell as he tilted his head.

Hisoka reached from behind his back, and produced two bags (from where exactly, Illumi wasn’t sure)-- in one hand, he held a white takeout box with a Chinese restaurant’s emblem imprinted on the top, and in the other hand a seemingly expensive bag with pink and gold intricate designs and a large silver crown logo in the middle.

Ah.

Hisoka doesn’t seem to have been plotting anything.

“Hisoka.” The sweat on his brow made sense now, as he pieced the information together in his mind with a single slow blink.

“Did you run all the way back to the city to buy food and--” he glanced at the fancy pink and silver and gold bag in his right hand, “Whatever is in that second bag?”

“Mhm, I hope you like Chinese food.”

Illumi looked at Hisoka incredulously as he handed him the white box with fried noodles and assortment of meats. His brows pinched together and he squinted his eyes up at Hisoka, to which Hisoka responded by grinning. He seemed to enjoy making Illumi flabbergasted.

“You’ll like what’s in this second bag. I thought you’d need it so I decided to run back to the city for a shopping trip,” Hisoka reached into the pink bag and retrieved a flask of hair gel, which he had bought for himself and pocketed. Then handed the bag to Illumi, “See for yourself”.

Illumi accepted the bag, eyeing Hisoka suspiciously, before pulling out the bag’s contents. He pulled out a silky expensive thing.

A silk deep royal blue dress with bright silver jewels lining the top piece. It was short-sleeved, and the line at the collar went down and down, tantalizingly exposing a line through the middle with only transparent black lace concealing the skin that would be shown. The back was exposed too, the black lace covering it. The dress was long and sleek and covered everything below down to the floor except a single elegant cut along one leg of the dress, traveling upwards and ending near the top of a thigh. It was a beautiful piece of garment, Illumi would admit.

It was also treacherously scandalous.

Illumi neatly folded the dress back into the bag and looked up to Hisoka, “Are you back to playing your game of teasing me?”

“What makes you say that?” Hisoka sat next to him, even though there was more than enough space on the other side of the fire. Illumi shifted away slightly and hoped the movement seemed casual (Hisoka liked getting to him, Illumi couldn’t let that show). He smiled kindly in return (he had noticed, to his dismay).

“What is the dress for?”

“You will need something to wear at the party, will you not? You can’t go to such a wealthy event wearing any of your usual attire, even though your clothing is lovely.”

“Why would disguising myself as a woman be the first option I should decide to choose?”

“I never said you had to disguise yourself as a woman, you can wear the dress as you look now,” Hisoka’s eyes flicked down and back up at Illumi, “Unless you want me to wear it”, “But that would be distracting wouldn’t it?” Hisoka put a finger to his lips, feigning shyness.

Illumi sighed.

Hisoka had really ran back to the city, despite it being days behind them, just so he could call the shots to the method with which Illumi would disguise himself. Illumi really could have just done the sensible option of using his needles to steal one of the guard men’s suits.

He felt a pang of exasperation that... this second option actually may provide them with more flexibility and less suspicion in wandering about than disguising themselves as guards would.

“You want us to infiltrate the event as a couple.”

Hisoka’s golden eyes lit up with a twinkle in them. He looked honestly excited, as if Illumi had just brought him a new puppy.

“Bingo.”

Well. He supposed it would work.

He’d let Hisoka have his way, figured that this was a better alternative to having to deal with an ulterior plan he initially thought Hisoka would have. His definition of having fun vexxed Illumi sometimes. He was surprisingly simple, sometimes.

“Alright.”

Hisoka’s grin faltered and he blinked, looking taken aback as his wide smile was replaced with a look of surprise.

“Really? Youre not going to fight it?”

“Really. We’ll infiltrate the event as a fake couple. I’ll disguise myself as a woman and you can use your texture surprise to make yourself look less conspicuous. I can use my needles to take a suit from one of the men, unless you already packed a suit for yourself for whatever reason. We’d have more of a sound reason to mingle about the party as a couple, anyways, and we’d arouse less suspicion if we play our cards right.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually say yes” Hisoka cocked him a toothy grin with his eyebrows shot up. He beamed excitement and surprise at the same time.

“Well, it isn’t the worst plan,” Illumi angled his head at him. “But I’m not sure it was worth the trip back to the city.”

“Oh, it definitely was” Hisoka gave Illumi something that looked like a genuine smile, the first Illumi had seen from the magician. He grew faintly aware of the fact that despite the open area around them, there was only a step of space between the two. Their legs and arms almost touching.

“You’re so much fun, Illumi. You never fail to catch me by surprise”

Something in Hisoka’s gaze shifted, something honest and strange, the light of the fire and shadows created by the night made them more gold than usual and it made Illumi turn back to stare into the embers of the flames. He felt Hisoka’s eyes still on him even when he was looking away.

The takeout box that was opened between them was nearly forgotten when he felt a hand gently hold a strand of his hair at the tip.

At the unwarranted touch, Illumi’s hand shot lightning-fast, out at Hisoka’s wrist and pinned it down to the soil roughly, hearing it crack beneath his own, “Do not get too comfortable around me, Hisoka” he warned.

Hisoka’s pleased expression did not change, voice a sing-song “Okay”.

However, even as he let go of his wrist, Illumi had not increased the space between them.

Illumi had not noticed when the space had disappeared as they sat side by side, arms pressing faintly against each other as they ate quietly from the same takeout box, chopsticks and fork in each man’s hand, respectively.

At some point into the night, the food now gone and the fire having been reduced to mere scraps of flame and streaks of red on hot stones, Illumi felt his eyes slowly drift shut. If he was any bit more awake, he would chastise himself for letting his guard down enough around the man to sleep with his eyes closed, this time, limbs still pressed close--but not fully-- to the other’s.

As he drifted off into sleep, he vaguely felt Hisoka’s eyes trace along and linger on his face, and he didn’t mind much, strangely, when he felt Hisoka hesitantly lean his head on top of his own. He would let it slide, for now. He felt a foreign sense of warmth that wasn't fed by the dying flame in the pit of red-hot stones and embers.

Tomorrow would be the day they found the party. Illumi’s hunch had never been wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i enjoy writing these two war criminals doing apparently normal things like eat at a bootleg IHOP and camp together and start to fall in love???maybe? more news at 6.  
> this whole chapter reads like an intermission beach episode and its driving me nuts trying not to put more crack into this fic--- i cant get over the thought of illumi interacting with customer service employees and hisoka trying his best to dress down (and suffering) in civilian clothing  
> anyways, more plot stuff should happen the next chapter, i hope you enjoy my interpretation of fluffy hisoillu, they're bonding i promise  
> theyll get there..eventually


	3. Diversion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hisoka has a weird definition of flirting. illumi warms up to hisoka.
> 
> Warning: some violence and gross men in this chapter (but they are...dealt with). some manga spoilers on one of chrollo’s abilities.

Chrollo walked down the dark hallway of the hideout, towards the stair exit for the roof.

The rest of the phantom troupe went about their business, some away on missions, others in the bottom floor of the hideout where they often gathered, doing their best to entertain themselves as they waited on command for Chrollo to assign them to missions.

He had just finished the final preparations for what was to come.

Kortopi had eyed him curiously about his sudden request, but didn’t so much as bat an eye before he fulfilled it, not questioning his motives but seeming rather curious as to the fact Chrollo heeded his skill for a personal mission instead of something he needed to involve the other members in.

Chrollo appreciated that he didn’t ask. It wasn’t necessary for the others to join him. He knew that they wanted to help, but really, Chrollo would rather the members that were in the hideout stick with each other.

Uvogin’s death still weighed heavily on his heart, after all.

Donned in his coat, fur lining his face, black hair greased back, Chrollo looked out from atop the roof of the building the troupe lay low in. 

Chrollo reflected back to the phone call he had received days ago.

An old friend from meteor city required his assistance. Not the help from spiders--not from the leader, the head of the spiders-- but help from a friend, from Chrollo.

He was nobody to deny an old friend a gift.

Chrollo pulled out a pack of cigarettes he had bought from an abandoned vending machine on one of the floors of the building, feeling nostalgic suddenly as he thought back to his days in meteor city when he filled his lungs with smoke and his blood with alcohol, among other foreign intoxicants.

Pressing one to his lips, he flicked a flame under it with his lighter, and felt the smoke fill his lungs in a haze and burn him at the same time, a familiarity to the feeling that he welcomed with open arms.

He held the smoke in, exhaling the tendrils out through his nose, before speaking up, finally acknowledging the presence that had been following him since his meeting with Kortopi.

“There’s no need to spy on me, Kalluto. If there is something you need you shouldn’t be afraid to ask me directly.”

As soon as he said the words, flimsy pieces of paper scattered around Chrollo from the crannies they were hidden in, every scrap flying around and returning to its source.

A moment later, Kalluto emerged from the stairs that led to the roof.

Chrollo regarded him.

Kalluto took a few steps towards Chrollo and stopped at a few feet’s distance. He was wearing an elegant dark kimono with pink flower imprints and held his hands together formally in front of him. 

His expression remained neutral as pink eyes trained on the leader confidently, despite having been caught.

“Sorry for spying on you,” Kalluto spoke finally, bowing his head in a polite show of an apology.

“Why were you watching me?” Chrollo spoke without anger, only a genuine sense of interest. Kalluto had been new to the group still, and was adjusting to life with the spiders. 

He didn’t blame the boy for being curious.

If it weren’t for the way Kalluto nervously shifted in place, Chrollo would not have been able to interpret that the boy was feeling uncomfortable, aside from the hesitant pause in his speech. 

He briefly thought to the eldest Zoldyck child, Illumi, and his imperceivable stare-- he was the hardest to analyze from the entire family. It seemed Kalluto still hadn’t perfected the art of concealing one’s true nature based on the honesty that gleamed in his eyes, even if it was obvious Illumi trained him well.

“I... was simply analyzing your behavior. You’re the most important member of the group, and it's clear everybody respects you deeply. I wanted to see for myself...” 

_The reason for that respect. If the respect and loyalty that was given to him was well merited._ Chrollo filled in the rest of his words mentally.

He smiled at Kalluto, kindly, and it seemed to make Kalluto ease his tense posture slightly.

“I see. That’s fair.” Chrollo dropped his cigarette and put it out with the sole of his shoe. “However you are mistaken about one thing-- I am not the most important member of the troupe. My death would mean nothing to the group. If I died, someone else will simply take over as the head, and the spider will live on, even without me.”

Kalluto stared at him with a blatant surprise written on his face, an expression of awe, almost, as an almost child-like curiosity struck his expression.

Chrollo smiled at the boy, he couldn’t help the fond feeling he felt for the youngest Zoldyck.

Kalluto approached a few steps closer, slowly, like a kitten approaching a new person in the room. “And you are alright with that?”

Chrollo nodded. 

“The phantom troupe was created on the foundations with this philosophy in mind. We would not be spiders if my death was any more significant than the others. That is what makes our group strong and how we’ve been able to survive successfully thus far.”

Kalluto considered this, turning his gaze to the sunrise that peeked from the horizon. He seemed to have more questions, but carefully dropped them. He seemed satisfied with the answer, and regarded any further questioning as unnecessary.

They stood side by side watching the horizon give rise to the overseeing sun, bright and powerful and looming-- none could ever escape its watchful rays, he mused, as the sun’s beam of light exposed the dust dancing in the air, hidden like the paper Kalluto wielded.

Chrollo put his hands in his coat pockets, and turned to Kalluto, an idea crafted in his mind like a light switching on.

“Kalluto, how would you like to join me on a mission as my informant?”

  
  


\----

Hisoka and Illumi were perched at the top branches of a large tree, both of them faced the same direction, their eyes and ears trained on the same thing down below. 

The sun had not even fully risen when they had set off from their cavernous camp-out to continue their search when they both felt a blip of aura flash and conceal itself like a blink.

Without so much as saying a word, the two of them simultaneously darted towards the direction of the flash of aura. An amateur nen user would not have felt such a subtle blip, or bother to acknowledge it, but the two men easily trained on it like a lethal bullet.

Hisoka kept a perfectly synchronous pace with Illumi’s turbulent speed, the difference between the men’s overwhelming power and the absolute devoid silence they ran through the forest in was almost disconcerting in contrast.

Now they laid still atop the highest tree in their vicinity, their eyes were trained on the large imperial building that was camouflaged with the rest of the forest, practically consumed by leafy spurge, musk thistle, and cedar trees. 

It was dead silent, and Illumi’s eyes gouged out its details with an intense calculation.

There were no guards by the entrance. The windows which were consumed by green seemed to be unboarded, unprotected. No life surrounded the estate, it was as if it were as abandoned a site as it appeared.

Only a week and a half had passed since the start of their mission and they had already managed to locate the meeting ground for where the negotiation party would take place. 

There, they would scope out the dealer, first identifying whether his plans for a diplomatic treaty between the crime syndicate leaders was true to his word, whether he would proceed without trial or without an ulterior motive for bringing them all to the same place at the same time.

Illumi already knew what the case was. It was faulty optimistic thought, for things to be that simple-- Illumi had not expected as such, regardless.

The blip of aura had told them as such.

When they felt the blip, Hisoka and Illumi both felt the malicious aura that radiated from it like frigid water, and considering it seemed there was no activity occurring in the building, that only meant one thing.

That whoever released the aura did so on purpose, to lure in strong nen users before the proposed date for the party-- when there would be no other witnesses to see a fight break out.

It was a trap, and Hisoka and Illumi were both cautiously aware of the fact. 

Illumi knew, then, that the party would end in the bloodshed of the other leaders by the dealer’s bidding. Peace was never the goal. The dealer would fool his enemies by promising a negotiation, a share of his drug empire, and in the next second conveniently dispose of his competition in one move. Like bringing sheep in to the slaughter while also disguised as a sheep.

It made sense to Illumi then, that the dealer would plan his agenda to remove all the stronger potential enemies first, the other wolves in sheep’s clothing lurking in the shadows waiting for the right moment to strike.

It couldn’t be the dealer himself in there, however, Illumi calculated. He wouldn’t go out of his way to plan a diplomatic-turned-assassination-party only to risk getting himself killed. 

Someone hired by the dealer then-- a single person he trusted enough, and deemed strong enough to purposefully lure in enemies that were tracking down the event before it could begin.

Whoever was in that building wanted to dispose of the strongest potential enemies--skilled nen users-- way before the gathering was set to begin by having them think they held the advantage of a sneak attack, so whoever they were must be strong enough and crafty enough to purposefully stake nen users out with the blip of aura sent out, enough to guide them straight to the source, but subtle enough to make it look like an accident.

The stage act would have worked, if Illumi and Hisoka were not as morbidly strong as they were-- they clearly did not plan for enemies as strong as the two. They would never fall for such a trick.

Falling for it is one thing--- walking right into the trap despite catching it, on _purpose_ , was another.

At this realization, Illumi shot a sharp look to Hisoka. Hisoka met his pointed stare.

_Hisoka. Whoever is in there right now is not our target. Do not engage in a fight, even though I am well aware you want to._

Illumi squinted at him in warning and blinked at him slowly, doing his best to communicate his thoughts wordlessly.

_You’ve never been one for instant gratification._

_Also, I’ll poke your eyes if you try anything_ \-- Illumi added, gesturing by jabbing two fingers into the palm of his other hand.

Hisoka, whose expression had been neutral in concentration up until that point, having reached the same conclusions as Illumi, broke into its usual grin as he caught Illumi’s meaning.

He shrugged with his arms and shoulders, palms upwards. 

As if to say, _Well, there’s no helping it._ Then pointed a thumb behind his shoulder, away from the hidden estate in a wordless question.

Illumi was glad for the fact that he didn't have to exert the unnecessary effort to keep Hisoka put. He would not risk his mission, and he would not have Hisoka jeopardize the integrity of their infiltration plan either by engaging in a ruthless, unnecessary battle.

Ruthless, unnecessary battles were Hisoka’s favorite, however. Especially with opponents that were confident enough to purposefully reel in a fight, a challenge. 

Illumi felt a quiet tug of appreciation suddenly, and surprise really, that the magician still hadn't done anything stupid to jeopardize their plans thus far and actually listened to Illumi’s warning. Even for a manipulator at his scale, Illumi found that he could never fully control Hisoka, so he had well accounted for the possibility for a clown-made diversion in plans.

Illumi gave him a nod, and the two fell away from the view of the estate, leaving it behind at a distance where they would be safe from getting caught before due time if the mysterious presence were to use En to try to scope out their surroundings.

They would wait for the right time to enact their infiltration.

Now that they had found the location, nothing would get in the way between Illumi and his mission from being complete. 

Death had already been the sealed fate for those unfortunate enough to have been captured by Hisoka’s and Illumi’s target range.

The second, even fainter blip that followed the first one went unnoticed by the two men.

If it were just a fraction stronger or a little more than the slightest ripple made by a pebble in water, Illumi would have been able to identify it. It was an aura he was closely familiar with-- magenta and elegant, just like his mother’s, but darker, just like his own.

  
  


\---

A week more had passed after the initial encounter.

Hisoka and Illumi waited patiently in the shadows, waiting until the day of the supposed diplomatic party.

They felt the same blip of aura three other times after the first, each release of the aura held the same intention to kill, but Illumi figured that most nen users couldn’t tell the difference.

Surprisingly, Hisoka behaved himself.

Illumi almost --almost-- felt impressed with the man for his self-control. If it were a family member instead, Illumi would have felt proud.

One day, it occurred to Illumi that the reason Hisoka hadn’t fallen away from his favor and actually obeyed wasn’t because Illumi had him under his control--he still did to a certain degree, Illumi would argue-- but because the magician deemed their plan more fun than picking out a fight.

Illumi considered this, briefly--- infiltrating with him was more fun to Hisoka than fighting. He didn’t think anything was more fun to the man than a good fight.

Finally, the day of the event came to a start. Their patience would finally show results. The two were up before the sun rose, and already they felt the faint presence in the direction of the estate of several men.

None of them were nen users, he analyzed, considering none of them had turned off their aura-- he felt the aura like a weak, dim light. They held a little more power than the animals around them (even squirrels and birds released a faint amount of it).

Hisoka looked positively thrilled when the day came. Excitement rolled off of him in waves, making Illumi blink as another realization struck him.

It dawned on him, suddenly, why Hisoka had played along and didn’t ruin their plans.

Really, he wasn’t shocked, he should have known. But it made his face deadpan all the less when Hisoka approached him, carrying his dress in his hands and handed it to him, like a shy flower child handing the bride and groom their rings.

It was finally the day of their infiltration when they would sneak in as a couple, in disguise.

“Here’s your dress, Illu.”

Illumi took the garment, deadpan face still trained on Hisoka, and he said in an ingenuine tone--- “Thank you”.

Hisoka smiled and gave Illumi space, going to the other side of their cavern. Illumi had dug out another one, close enough to the estate to be able to monitor it but far enough away that they wouldn’t have to worry about being traced by En. 

It was much more spacious-- large enough that they could have a fair enough amount of privacy. It was still only one room, however, and not divided by walls, so their privacy was limited.

In the short week of them living in their underground quarter, Illumi had gotten much more accustomed to spending time under one roof with Hisoka. He had already abandoned his care for sleeping, or undressing in front of the man, among other things.

He thought back to a night where Hisoka had showed up completely naked into their hideout after a bath in the lake, throwing a card at Illumi in the attempt at making him look his way. He didn't- caught the card easily between two fingers without sparing a glance at his naked form before casually continuing what he had been doing (which was a fair deal of nothing, if he were being honest).

Illumi grew accustomed to those kind of games Hisoka would play in the days together, and Illumi was perfectly immune to them at that point. Although he didn't pay any mind to Hisoka's games, Illumi still threatened to stick needles in his eyes last time he felt Hisoka ogling him while changing, wearing only a pair of tight black boxers, to which Hisoka only responded by smiling pleasantly, and much to Illumi’s amazement, didn’t breach his privacy after that.

While Hisoka got to undressing and changing into his formal wear, Illumi picked out several thin, delicate and less obvious needles and got to work on himself.

He inserted three delicate needles underneath his jaw and felt the bone creak and shift, making it rounder and softer. 

He sighed at the feeling-- although he could drastically change his appearance to whatever he willed, he would have to use as little as possible to make it so that he could still move around with grace. His transformations took a lot out of him, even though he had grown completely accustomed to the pain and effort of it many years ago.

He inserted more needles-- several by his shoulders and chest, narrowing the broadness of them and giving himself a breasted chest, a few needles placed in the crevice of his hips, making them more curvaceous, he placed one long needle into his lumbar bone and felt his spine contract, making his height shorten, two more by his temples to finish smoothing the round softness of his face, and finally four more under each limb to make the bulk of his muscles less pronounced.

Illumi scrutinized his appearance as he looked down and hummed in approval, satisfied. Even with less needles, he completely transformed his appearance. He looked elegant and feminine, and yet he still looked vaguely himself.

Ignoring the side glances he felt casted his way from Hisoka’s direction, he stripped down to his boxers and put on the royal blue dress Hisoka had chosen for him.

It was somehow more treacherously scandalous on him than he expected it to be. 

The skin of his arms and neck was exposed, V-line dipping down and further down the middle of his chest stopping right above his navel and across the plane of his back, coyly obscured by transparent dark lace, and a tantalizing line up the side of his dress revealed glimpses of the marble of his leg and thigh through the graceful sway of blue silk.

Thinking of where to store the rest of his needles in a place where they wouldn’t be obvious, Illumi brought his lustrous black hair into his hands and put it up in an elegant bun at the back of his head. He pinned it in place with his needles, letting some hair fall out the bun to frame around his face and the back of his neck.

“Are you finished?” he heard Hisoka ask at his end of the room, gaze still partially averted.

“Yes, I’m done with the transformation,” Illumi said, granting Hisoka the permission to fully judge his appearance now.

Illumi looked at him too.

Hisoka wore a deep scarlet linen blazer and notched lapel with velvet red buttons around the abdomen that emphasized the slimness of his waist, with a black firm-pressed formal undershirt that peeked from the lapel along with a shimmering black tie. From his suit’s front pocket, a silk black handkerchief protruded tastefully. His heels were replaced by polished black wingtips.

Illumi’s survey of Hisoka’s appearance continued as his eyes roamed upwards, and he noticed he wasn’t wearing his usual facepaint and had his hair slicked back-- black hair, Illumi blinked-- _ah,_ texture surprise-- perhaps his natural hair color, Illumi wondered distantly.

Somehow, even with Hisoka’s attempts at making himself stand out less, he still seemed to stick out like a magnetic force in the space around him. Illumi surprised himself when he spoke out loud without meaning to. 

“You look nice.”

Hisoka had been lost drinking Illumi’s appearance in, with the muscle in his jaw clenching hard and slacking, brows furrowed and angled lewdly, white teeth biting on the inside of his bottom lip-- a ravenous look on his face that stuttered with surprise when he processed Illumi’s words. 

Hisoka’s eyes met Illumi’s dark ones, and suffocated the air around them, threatening to burn into him with an intense gold.

Hisoka at the moment looked like he wanted to do nothing but devour him.

Illumi felt a shiver form without warning, which he cut off dead the instant it had tingled down his back. Kept his expression neutral, even when Hisoka filled the space between them until Illumi had to look up to maintain eye contact.

Distantly, he was aware that Hisoka had not breached the space between them alone, as Illumi met him in the middle.

“Oh, Illumi,” he said with a smile in his voice, but he didn’t say anything more.

His eyes kept trained on Hisoka’s-- a flash in the gold, honest and strange, like he had seen a week ago when they huddled close by the fire, eating takeout food-- but they flashed with a growing hunger that took Illumi aback, but gravitated him closer to Hisoka nonetheless.

The space between them felt stiff and built with a tension Illumi did not recognize. He thought of the absurdity that their relationship--their alliance-- could develop such an invading tension that wasn’t the tension to fight, or kill.

It felt dangerous, as if pushed hard enough, the tension would snap and swallow him whole.

A gnawing tightness formed faint in the pit of his stomach-- he denied it, forced the feeling away.

_He was an assassin. He did not have desires._

The peculiarity of the word choice in his thoughts shook something in his mind-- desire?-- what did he desire? His face remained neutral despite the confusion behind it.

Illumi felt a hand carefully grab a strand of the hair that fell from his bun that framed the side of his face.

Illumi blinked up at Hisoka from his thoughts, momentarily being overcome by the feeling to rip the hand off, his hand tensing and claws retracting, but Illumi didn’t react. He didn’t stop him.

Warning sirens blared distantly in Illumi’s mind, noticing that the two stood nearly chest to chest. Their positions felt too intimate, with Hisoka crouching over Illumi as he brought the strand of hair to his lips as he continued to bore into Illumi’s eyes. A shadow casted over him as Hisoka blocked the light behind them both.

Hisoka’s eyes seemed brighter in the darkness. 

Illumi, in a moment of insanity he assumed, brought a deadly hand up, claws retracted, but then lightly laid it on top of Hisoka’s bicep. The malfunctioning hand glided up Hisoka’s arm, to his shoulder, then settled around to the back, feeling the muscle there.

Something switched in Hisoka’s eyes as he brought his face closer, suddenly, as if pulled by a gravitational force ignited by the simple touch of Illumi’s hand, causing the space between them to close, and Hisoka’s narrowing self-control with it. 

Something like bloodlust--but not exactly-- creeped out of Hisoka and surrounded them both in a tight blanket of aura. Illumi brought his clawed hand up to the back of Hisoka’s neck, the sharp points of nails prickling the pale skin in its hold.

They did not break eye contact. Illumi felt Hisoka’s hot breath on his face, only inches from his lips. Their noses brushed together. Eyes kept locked in contact. Hisoka’s steady exhale tickling his skin--

And with that, like a crack of a stick broken in half-- Illumi snapped out of the intoxicated trance he was caught in and took a step back, the inch of space between them increasing again. The disobedient hand on the back of Hisoka’s neck snapped back to his side, and Illumi turned away, breaking the eye contact and the tension between them that came with it.

“We should go.”

“Okay.”

Illumi let Hisoka jump out of the hole first while he collected his thoughts and desires before shutting them tightly behind a steel wall, feeling exposed by the new memory of the strange look behind Hisoka’s eyes and the closeness of his face, closer than he’s ever seen before, eyelashes pale around a narrow sliver of bright gold that looked at him with a sort of wonder, shutting away the memory of his own hand tracing up his arm and back, feeling up strong and wide arms that were more muscular than his own slender form.

Illumi buried the weakness at once, going back to the cold, unfeeling assassin he was, before he jumped up following behind Hisoka.

Illumi tried to ignore the large, pleased expression on Hisoka’s face as they walked side by side towards the direction of the camouflaged estate, in silence.

  
  
  


\---

Hisoka and Illumi sat next to each other in the bar area inside the estate. 

Despite being so run-down on the outside, the inside had deceptively held gold marble flooring surrounded with large statuesque paintings of stocky men clad in vain suits with large cigars and thick mustaches surrounded by half-naked women with boastfully large feather hats. A large flight of stairs ascended several floors above, and an extravagant ballroom was at its center with a mini bar right next to it.

One mistake made already-- their efforts to not attract much attention failed miserably as they made their way through the doors of the guarded entrance of the estate.

The moment they walked in, Illumi felt the open-eyed stares from bumbling cigar-clad men who believed themselves to be important, drinking in his appearance openly. The women that giggled by their sides, including some men, shot appreciative stares at Hisoka, as well.

Illumi had sat at a table booth for four with two other people-- across from Hisoka and Illumi, a short, wide man with small eyes and a large neck guffawing next to a blonde woman with bright red lipstick and blue eyeshadow, a jewel on every finger.

The sound of laughter brought him back to the conversation-- he had stopped paying attention when Hisoka had begun making meaningless small talk with the two.

He had taken the time to scope out the other party members, eyes scanning the members of the party with their guests, making a mental documentation of each of their faces, ears training on other conversation and chatter about them.

He only came up with more meaningless talk.

- _Oh yes, he did buy that ten carat ring_ -

- _Can you imagine how surprised I was to find my tie half shredded in the garbage disposal?-_

- _It wasn’t that bad a trip, but I don’t feel great about being around so many ugly people-_

- _Nobody told me I couldn’t bring more than ten guests, so-_

- _Who do you think I am, huh? Getting my order wrong, I should strangle you right here-_

- _The restrooms are to the right on the second floor_ -

- _He said I looked good in green, but I told him that was a tacky color-_

Illumi was not keen on wasting more time. If the man and woman across from them didn't say anything meaningful within the next three minutes, Illumi would use his needles to forcefully bring out the information he needed, and move on to the next person.

The only reason he had not done so from the start was because there was a crowd. 

Everyone at the party had been on edge, tense, clearly doubting the motives of the party set up by the dealer, but faking camaraderie with small-talk and useless chatter, drinking and mingling to hide their apprehension.

The slightest bit of suspicion would have their covers blown, given how tense everyone was. He therefore entertained Hisoka’s approach to find out who the dealer and his associates were, names and faces-- in the form of droning chatter and small-talk, it seemed.

Illumi focused back to the conversation at hand.

“And then I told him,” Hisoka said, giving his most charming smile to the couple, “That wasn’t a fish he was holding, it was my left shoe.”

The couple erupted in laughter, as if Hisoka had just told the funniest joke in existence.

Illumi’s nose wrinkled in distaste. When they casted a look at him, he feigned a polite smile, a small little tug at the corners of his lips.

“Man, I had my doubts when you two walked in because none of us hadeva’ seen your faces around here,” the burly man in a black and white suit slammed his hand down on the table in a jovial way, “But damn, if you aren’t the funniest guy here.”

Illumi struggled to keep his polite smile on his face.

The man glanced at Illumi, then back at Hisoka and whistled wolfishly, before saying with a perverted smirk, “You got yourself a real killer, too.”

Hisoka smiled politely, taking in the meaning of the words with an irony he wanted to laugh at. His lips pursed and tugged up at the edges which Illumi recognized as the expression he made when he was holding back laughter.

“Ah, ha, yes, you can say that.”

Illumi kicked Hisoka underneath the seat.

The man did not notice, and neither did he drop the subject. He turned his perverted stare to Illumi, his small upturned eyes lecherously glancing down to Illumi’s chest.

“Real gorgeous, and she doesn’t talk much at all,” he guffawed, his blotchy face red with alcohol. The man leered, and laughed loudly, “Bet she satisfies you in bed then doesn’t ask for much else in return, huh? Gotta catch a type like that for myself.”

The stocky man reached over the table where the blonde woman had been shifting uncomfortably at his side, where a tray of shots lay in the middle, then downed one in one gulp. A streak of the liquid trailed down his mouth and he wiped it away with the back of a hand.

The humor was completely gone from Hisoka’s face.

He maintained an easy smile on his lips, but his eyes narrowed with malice onto the man. His fingers twitched.

Illumi glanced at Hisoka, sensing the change in his demeanor instantly. He pressed a heel-- Hisoka had let Illumi borrow one of his pairs-- to his leg under the table.

Illumi could not be affected by the words or actions of pathetic, powerless men. He barely even acknowledged the man’s presence at all, being so focused on the mission at hand. 

He only acknowledged the insult because Hisoka had responded to it-- the man’s voice otherwise was like filtered background static, an insignificant buzz of noise.

“Ima go take a leak, you betta’ not flirt with my girl, now,” the man said with a barked laugh as he pat Hisoka’s back with a rough hand.

“I won’t,” Hisoka responded as pleasantly as he could manage, voice dripping with a hidden acridity. Illumi removed the heel that was pressed firmly at Hisoka’s side.

After a moment of silence (the blonde woman was looking away in discomfort and coughed into a dainty hand), Hisoka finally moved.

“Where are you going, Hisoka?” Illumi spoke for the first time since entering the party. A needle in his voice box raised the pitch of his voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave evidence," Hisoka stopped in his tracks to cast a look at Illumi, "May I?”

Illumi stared back, unblinking.

He knew Hisoka would go off on his own, anyways. Even though it was a fruitless question, Illumi knew he was playing the role of gentleman by asking him first.

“Do not take too long,” Illumi said. 

If Hisoka wanted to use charm to bring information out from others, he shouldn’t expect Illumi to wait more than five minutes before he did things his way-- he had plenty of needles to spare, and Hisoka’s help wasn’t necessary.

Hisoka grabbed Illumi’s hand by the fingers, then, and planted a wet kiss at the top. Illumi retracted his hand away and wrinkled his nose at him in disgust. Hisoka quirked a grin.

“Then, I’ll be going. Ladies.” Hisoka bowed away.

The blonde woman looked perplexed as she looked between Illumi and Hisoka, their conversation not making any sense but she didn’t linger. Only grabbed a shot glass for herself and drank it in a single gulp.

Illumi looked over at the other men in the room again. None of them seemed aware of what he knew-- that the dealer didn’t plan on negotiating a treaty. Initially, Illumi had planned to find out who worked for the dealer and dispose of them quietly. But ever since Hisoka and he had found the presence of a powerful associate the dealer seemed to be working with, the plans had changed somewhat.

  
The dealer and his men were likely not at the party at all.

They needed to find out who was helping the dealer from the shadows-- the one responsible for the blip of aura they felt a week ago. If anyone had any information on the dealer’s current whereabouts, it was them. 

There was one thing for sure. Given there was an associate helping the dealer enact his secret goal to spill the blood of the other crime leaders at the party to monopolize the industry entirely-- this secret associate was at the party. It would be that associate that would kill the other bosses, given the competency of their nen.

Illumi would bide his time waiting for this secret associate to make his move. When he did, Illumi would face them directly. For the time being, he would find out what he could about the names and faces of his targets. 

Illumi watched Hisoka’s form disappear up the stairs at the end of the room, his hips swaying as he casually pulled out a fresh deck of cards.

They wouldn’t be able to gain any information from the lewd man with the small eyes, at least.

  
  


\---

“What do you report, Kalluto?”

Chrollo was dressed in a fancy classic black and white dress-suit and tie. He brought the wine glass down after a tasteful sip, listening in on the communication device in his ear.

“My paper dolls have landed their targets. I have ears on all ten of the drug leaders. They are all guarded by several men, but none of them noticed.”

Chrollo was leaning against a wall by the expansive ballroom in the middle of the inner estate. He drank his wine patiently and casually. All about him were men and women mingling with forced smiles and polite talk.

He had brought Kalluto with him for two reasons. One, the young boy’s abilities were powerful and useful given they would serve well to monitor the movement and positions of his targets. Two, he was granting him the opportunity to bear witness to Chrollo’s abilities. He had been curious, after all.

“Good. Thank you, Kalluto. Keep your paper confetti on them while I go greet them.”

“Understood.” the voice on the other side of the communicator ear piece replied. Kalluto was positioned hidden outside the premise of the estate, close by.

Chrollo made his way to the crime leaders Kalluto kept monitored. He would greet them one by one and lead them to the conference room on the highest floor-- the third floor-- where they would begin their alleged negotiation.

Chrollo had two of his abilities activated, already. Ability one-- he didn’t have to overtly carry around his black book of stolen abilities out in the open.

He approached each boss with a kind, charming smile. Told them that he was there as the dealer’s representative and he was calling to begin the negotiation on the third floor. He shook each of their hands.

Ability two-- one palm held a sun, the other a moon.

He successfully set up the scene. 

Kortopi’s rendition of the dealer’s body was already on the third floor, seated in the back of the rounded table they would have their, very brief, discussion. Upon seeing the fake body of the dealer in the room, the bosses would fall unaware they had fallen into his trap. 

Each of them were already marked with his ability. He would dispose of them all with one clap of his hands.

Chrollo made his way up the flight of stairs to the conference room and waited.

“What are the targets saying?”

“Some of them are talking with their guards about the possibility of the dealer not cutting them a large enough deal, and how he will be outnumbered if they decide to attack him. None of them seem to be suspicious,” Kalluto replied on the receiver.

The plan was set in motion perfectly.

All Chrollo had to do now was sit and wait.

  
  


\---

  
The blonde woman that Illumi had been sitting with had left their seat after some time had passed. 

\-- _”How do you get your hair so healthy and shiny?... I like your dress, where did you buy it?… So, was the man who left just now your lover?”--_

She had nervously tried initiating small talk by filling in the awkward space of silence with flitting conversation starters, to which Illumi only responded by regarding her for a single second with a blink of his blank eyes, then proceeding to ignore she had said anything at all as he looked away. His eyes trained on the flight of stairs.

Hisoka was not back yet. It had almost been five minutes.

As soon as the blonde left her seat, presumably out of reaching her limit in uncomfortableness and to look for the small-eyed man she would never find, a group of three men approached Illumi in his booth.

Two across from him, one blocking his exit.

“What’s a sweetheart like you doing all alone here?” one of the men said.

Illumi wondered if he could get any information out of them. Doubted it, considering they looked like idiots. 

“Do any of you know who keeps track of the list of members at the party? I am looking for someone in particular.” 

That would be a good approach-- collect a list of names he could associate with identities. Even though the dealer and his men were not at the party, Illumi was certain they would still be written down in the attendance.

“What you’re looking for is right here baby, what say you hang out with us instead?”

Illumi thought so. Another waste of time.

Illumi got up. He’d go to Hisoka himself. His being alone was bringing the idiots his way (he couldn't kill them without attracting attention). Hisoka was an idiot in his own right, but at least he had some dignity and respect-- Illumi admitted. 

He thought about that twice-- maybe not dignity or respect, per say, but Hisoka was a man of equal strength as his own therefore he was somebody Illumi tolerated. He brushed the thought away, if Hisoka ever found out Illumi felt that way, he might say they were friends.

“Excuse me. You are in my way, can you move aside?” 

“What?” The man that was blocking his exit didn’t move. “I’m telling you to hang out with us. Sit back down, I’ll buy you a drink.” 

Illumi shot a needle at his shoulder the second the men blinked. They hadn’t seen Illumi do it, given how fast he moved.

The man’s arm fell numb to his side pathetically. His eyes widened as he realized he couldn’t feel or move his arm anymore. 

That arm was useless now. In a few hours, the entire left side of his body won’t have sensation in it either, permanent damage.

“Excuse me,” Illumi repeated, face blank and passive.

Illumi walked away when the man got up in a panic, confused and afraid as he slapped at his arm, trying to will it awake while the other men laughed drunkenly.

He climbed up the stairs where he’d seen Hisoka go, letting his instincts guide his way. At the end of a long hallway on the second floor, he smelled the scent of cinnamon and blood. Hisoka was close.

Illumi pushed open the door where the scent was the strongest and peeked inside. Hisoka was there, sitting on a velvet chair with his legs crossed, playing with the deck of cards in his hands.

Illumi walked into the room completely, letting the door shut behind him, and Hisoka greeted him with an easy welcoming smile.

“Sorry I took long to prepare this, so I decided to wait for you up here instead. I hope you didn’t mind having to look for me.”

The short, stocky man from before lay dead in the middle of the room. He was unrecognizable, covered completely in red.

Blood was splattered from his lifeless body across the room. 

Illumi looked at the peculiar patterns the streaks of blood made on the floor, and the wall, and the ceiling even. The blood splatter seemed intentional and artful, symmetrical on both sides where the man lay dead.

Illumi regarded the mess Hisoka made in the room for a second more before it struck him and he came to the realization that the blood was carefully splattered into the shape of a giant heart.

“Why did you do all this?” Illumi looked at Hisoka and tilted his head, strands falling across his face.

“He really wasn’t being very nice.”

Illumi caught his meaning-- _He insulted you._ Hisoka had gone through the effort of painting the room with his blood in the shape of a heart because he had been angered--Hisoka, of all people, angered-- for Illumi’s sake.

Ah.

A strange feeling tightened in his chest.

Hisoka got up from his seat and approached Illumi.

“When I said you could go dispose of the man, I was under the impression you’d do so with more secrecy than this.”

“Hmm.. That is more your style than mine, Illu.”

The same scene from the morning repeated itself as they stood nearly chest to chest, toe to toe, and Illumi looked up to meet his eyes. 

Illumi imagined the look in Hisoka’s eyes as he sliced the man with his cards with precise cuts across the room-- maybe the usual easygoing cadence in them was replaced with the malicious stare he saw in them when the man had insulted Illumi. Maybe he had told him the reason for why he was dying the way he was after every card he sliced through him.

Illumi blinked as he looked up at Hisoka, realizing belatedly that he actually felt pleased with the display Hisoka created for him.

“I still don’t see why all of this was necessary,”

The look in Hisoka’s eyes he had seen several times before flashed again-- the honest, strange expression in slits of gold.

“You know why, Illumi.”

The air felt thick around them like it had that morning.

Illumi crossed his arms over his chest and he huffed out a breath of air through his nose in defiance.

“I do not.”

Hisoka smiled at the stubbornness Illumi displayed, eyes crinkled. 

Suddenly, with a twirl of a hand, he produced a card and held it against Illumi’s neck-- but Illumi had already responded, reaching into his bun to pull out a needle and hold it against Hisoka’s own at the same moment. Illumi’s eyes were trained neutrally into Hisoka’s as they nearly pressed chest-to-chest, at a standstill.

“You don’t admit things to yourself easily, do you?” Hisoka traced the card along Illumi’s chin. Illumi pressed the tip of the needle against Hisoka’s throat, in warning. He shot a quick glance at the length of it.

“I still don’t know what you mean”

“For example,” Hisoka brought his face closer to Illumi’s until their noses almost touched, “You deny the fact we’re friends.”

“That’s because we aren’t friends,” Illumi said frankly. He didn't move his head away, challenging the control Hisoka tried to gain by making Illumi lose his composure by reacting to the invasion of personal space.

“Well, that’s just an example. And we are friends.”

“If we were friends, neither of us would be one step away from slicing at each other’s throats," Illumi dug the needle in his throat just a tad deeper, until a single bead of blood formed and slid down, "That is not a thing friends do, normally.”

It was true, they were chest-to-chest still and their faces were close enough for the action to almost look intimate, but the needle pressing on Hisoka's neck had started to draw blood and the card that had traced along Illumi’s jaw laid still on Illumi’s jugular.

The tension between them he feared would snap if it were pushed far enough sprained and creaked under their force. The air was still heady with something similar to bloodlust.

Hisoka hummed, and he was so close now, that their noses did touch this time. Illumi’s eyes disobeyed his commands and broke their contact to look down at Hisoka’s lips.

And before his mind could process what was happening, Illumi found himself entwined into Hisoka, their lips clashing together as they met in the middle.

Hisoka discarded the card by throwing it with a squelch at the dead body in the room, and pushed Illumi back against the door as he dragged his tongue on his bottom lip, darting his tongue inside hungrily when Illumi parted his lips in response.

Illumi’s hands shot into Hisoka’s neatly styled hair and ruined it, grasping and mussing it in his fists. Hisoka’s hands reached up behind Illumi’s head and pulled out the needles holding up his hair, making the hair cascade down and settle gracefully down on Illumi’s shoulders.

Illumi fisted Hisoka’s lapels, tugging him in closer harshly until they were pressed fully against eachother.

They continued to kiss, tongues pressed against eachother, even when they ran out of breath. They mouthed at eachother, panting.

“See, this is another example,” Hisoka breathed in between kisses, “Of something else you deny yourself.” Hisoka grabbed Illumi’s hands that were clenching the lapel of his suit and pinned them above his head, against the wall-- which made a warmth jump in Illumi’s stomach.

“Shut up,” Illumi bit Hisoka’s bottom lip in response, breaking the skin there. He felt an annoyance surge in him like lightning in his mind at the thought that Hisoka believed he could see right through him. Illumi needed to correct that habit the magician had.

"If I wanted you, Hisoka," the need to make Hisoka see his position better prompted him, as Illumi further grinded his teeth mercilessly against the bloodied bottom lip, and rolled his hips up against him. "Then you would have already been mine."

Hisoka moaned and Illumi felt the smile against his mouth as the taste of copper flooded between their conjoined lips.

Hisoka broke the kiss to nip the skin below Illumi’s ear. Illumi responded with a sigh, the action caused him to angle his head up, granting Hisoka more space to trail hot kisses down the column of his neck. 

Hisoka dragged his tongue down his neck and to his adam’s apple, where he nipped at the skin there which caused Illumi to involuntarily let out a low noise.

Hisoka drank it in, licking up to Illumi’s mouth, kissing it appreciatively then dipped his head back to his neck, trailing wet kisses and bites along his jaw to try and bring more noises out. Illumi sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth to prevent them from escaping.

His head was still reeling from the suddenness of the situation they were in. He was in the middle of a mission, and he was also pressed against the wall of a bloody room kissing Hisoka, with Hisoka nipping and licking at his neck, Hisoka pressed flush against him, Hisoka with his hands balled over Illumi's pressed against the wall. Hisoka pressed in on him at all sides. But he was pressing back.

Illumi didn’t want him to stop.

Illumi closed his eyes to block everything out, including his desire, as he panted with wet skin until he felt the kisses return back to his face and press insistently against his closed eyelids.

\-- _look at me_.

Illumi opened them, and looked into Hisoka’s half-lidded eyes. The pupils within the gold of his eyes were blown wide.

Hisoka kissed his nose and it made Illumi’s claws retract-- it was too affectionate an action, it made Illumi recoil and groan as he felt something dangerous tighten in his chest. 

That made Hisoka look at him curiously with a blink and experimentally, he pressed softer kisses on his face-- against his temples, his cheeks, a soft flush on top of his lips. 

Fervent kisses turned into sugar soft ones as Hisoka’s fists that were still balled on top of Illumi’s against the wall slackened and he carded his fingers through Illumi’s fingers.

Illumi felt magnetized and on fire, suddenly, his mouth following Hisoka’s to bite roughly at his already bruised lips. He moaned against him when Hisoka responded with a slow, honeyed press of his lips on Illumi’s.

The affection felt like chains against his skin and burned him.

Illumi was trained for the cold slash of whips and knife wounds until his legs couldn't support the pain he felt in his body, he had been trained until pain was as familiar as it was to end lives as naturally as he breathed. But the soft tenderness of lips trailing lightly on his skin was not something Illumi had felt before. He felt polarized caught between wanting Hisoka and him to kiss and tear at each other until they were both bleeding and bruised- and not wanting Hisoka to ever stop whatever the hell he was doing to him at the moment.

“Do you want it soft?” Hisoka asked as he curiously looked down at Illumi's slack-jawed expression-- his question had an uncharacteristic earnest tone to it. Hisoka's pupils were still blown with arousal, his eyes roamed over the features Illumi usually kept steeled behind a face of careful neutrality like he was filing them away in his mind. They were still holding hands.

The question burned in Illumi’s mind. Desire coursed through him and left his skin thrumming in a way he’d deny himself a thousand times before.

He wasn’t thinking anymore.

But before Illumi could let go of his inhibitions and slam Hisoka against the floor hard enough to crack the marble below them--

An explosion rang in the estate.

\--Illumi was violently ripped from his trance and his perspective shifted hard, back to the mission at hand. Like a train track that had gone astray shifting back to its course, Illumi’s expression steeled hard back to its familiar emptiness.

Hisoka paid no attention to the explosion, as if it hadn't shook the walls around them like an earthquake, and he hooked a finger around the strap of Illumi’s dress and played with the material. He was still pressed against Illumi on the doorframe, pleased aroused expression and all.

Illumi snapped his gaze away from him and stepped back, releasing the hold they had. He draped his loose hair neatly behind his shoulders as he increased the distance between them as he silently opened the door behind him and stepped out. He closed it on Hisoka.

A second later, Illumi peeked his head back into the room. Hisoka stood there with the biggest, pleased grin he’d donned that whole evening. His black hair was mussed, and lips kiss-bloodied. A trickle of blood had seeped under the collar of his suit-- the suit was red anyways, so it blended in fine, maybe Hisoka had chosen red for that reason.

“Clean your appearance up, then you can join me upstairs.”

He closed the door again, leaving Hisoka to get to it.

“So mean, Illumi. You’re going to leave me here with an erection?” he called out from behind the closed door.

The door opened one more time, Illumi peeked his head inside again and finally met Hisoka’s gaze.

“That sounds like a personal problem,” and closed the door.

As Illumi walked away towards the sound of the explosion a floor above, he heard the sound of Hisoka’s genuine laughter distantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to rewrite so many parts bc this chapter was giving me SUCH a hard time shrugs what ca n you do
> 
> also, yeah lets pretend i know how sun and moon works haha  
> (dammit chrollo)


	4. Desire

The room before Chrollo reeked of death and ash. 

He brushed off the dirt that got caught on the whiteness of his suit that turned it into a cloudy gray, giving up when it stuck to the fabric like a permanent stain of the crime perfectly executed before him. Dust and dirt reigned down in the aftermath of the explosion, filling the room with a slowly disappearing cloud that exposed the vulgar scene of black-and-white clad men charred and gaping open with missing parts and broken pieces. Killed on the spot, their faces were still serious, having not even received the time to react to the life that was snatched from them at the clap of Chrollo’s hands. Chrollo didn’t dwell for long, after it was done.

The sun and moon in each palm disappeared as he removed his ability.

His mission was complete.

Before he could move to leave the area to reconvene with Kalluto and make a final phone call to confirm the other rival leaders were dead as requested, Chrollo felt a presence approaching. The presence didn’t bother to conceal their aura- it was dark, looming, and Chrollo thought-- familiar. He considered it like a word on the tip of his tongue.

He had felt something similar when he gauged Kalluto’s aura, a certain rolling darkness he found peculiar to under the title of one family’s name.

The name rang true in his mind, as he jumped up to swiftly dodge the barrage of--something fast and deadly--that came at his direction suddenly.

_Zoldyck_.

Except, much to Chrollo’s curiosity, it was a woman he’d never seen before that emerged walking with calm steps from the cloud of dust and debris that lined the field of vision all around the room. 

Chrollo regarded the new presence in the room with a sense of well-mannered courtesy as he gave a polite smile, despite the fact that the mysterious woman had just attacked him.

Had he been wrong? The aura that surrounded the woman was still dark and looming, and yet controlled and kept at bay-- like a beast that didn’t outright carry the intention to kill, but could rip out throats with its prowess so be it chooses to do as such. It played on a familiarity in Chrollo’s mind that he couldn’t pinpoint.

It was also, he thought, wholly enticing.

The realization struck him when he looked back to see needles inserted along the walls behind him, as it left overarching cracks on the wall like protruding veins. He recalled the figure of Hisoka in the old troupe hideout--except it wasn’t Hisoka, he later figured out, curious and impressed. It had looked identical.

“Good evening, Illumi. I was not expecting to see you here.” 

Chrollo regarded Illumi’s appearance completely now that the cloud of dust had settled enough for him to examine the disguised Zoldyck before him. He was disguised elegantly and convincingly enough Chrollo would not have been able to see through it had it not been for the identifiable ability or the imperceptible stare that remained unchanged.

“Yes, I can’t say I was either. Hello.” 

“What brings you here?” Chrollo said in a friendly tone. 

“I was assigned to kill the man that hired you, along with his associates. I would appreciate it if you did not impede my mission.” 

Illumi stood with a needle between each finger, in both hands--a gesture of warning Chrollo realized.

Chrollo analyzed him, calculating. Moisture, sweat he assumed, made his neck glisten in lines from his rounded jaw, as if he had been fighting not long ago, but he showed no other evidence of a confrontation and no signs of being worn down at all. Chrollo casted a look at his needles-- it was a dangerous ability if he were to get hit by one, but if it were up to a battle of speed, Chrollo had him evenly matched. More than matched, he noted, considering his speed was likely compromised by the heels he was wearing.

Should he have a serious fight with Illumi, he could guarantee an 85% chance of assured success.

Then again, Chrollo did not have an accurate reading on Illumi’s true strength, had never been able to measure it aside from hints Kalluto would give him and the occasional glimpse he's seen from his aura. 

Either way, Chrollo would rather not fight him-- even without the intention to kill-- out of consideration for Kalluto.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t actually know where he is. He called me out of the blue to request from me a favor, which I fulfilled. I wouldn’t mind helping you if I knew anything, but that’s all the information I have” an honest remorseful smile played on his lips, “My apologies.”

A moment of silence passed between them. Illumi’s expressionless eyes bore into Chrollo with a dark intensity heavy enough to make the death that covered the room feel light in comparison, but Chrollo’s polite smile did not falter.

Suddenly, like a switch being pulled, Illumi removed the needles keeping hold of his disguise. 

His features distorted and shifted until they settled back to his original appearance. Illumi rolled his sleeveless shoulders as if they had been cramping, before raising the needles in between each finger even higher, ready to send them flying.

“You are lying.”

Before Chrollo could open his mouth to respond, another voice appeared in the room--

“My, I am being spoiled today. I didn’t think I’d be cashing in my fight today, Chrollo.”

A man with black hair and a bruised lip with eyes like a lion hunting its prey-- Chrollo immediately identified the presence as Hisoka, even with his appearance altered somewhat with his texture surprise.

Hisoka stood near Illumi--his gaze falling on him for a moment before eventually making its way to Chrollo again. Suddenly, Chrollo was outnumbered. 

He could kill either of the men in a one on one fight with a 100% guaranteed success given the right circumstances, but together, he calculated a near 45% chance of success--and that was a generous estimation. He did not want to fight either of them regardless. Diplomacy would be the only option he had.

“Ah, you’re here too, Hisoka. I’m assuming both of you came together as a pair to track me down.”

“I do not intend to fight you if I do not have to. You will tell me what you know about the dealer’s whereabouts, his identity, everything you know.” Illumi spoke with a matter of fact tone--as if it were obvious-- before amassing a deadly black aura and finishing with, “If not, I will have no choice but to use force.”

Hisoka looked between Illumi and Chrollo with a lewd expression fresh on display and something deranged in his eyes. He looked like he was going to orgasm on the spot.

Chrollo responded, “Hmm. That definitely would be troublesome.”

Despite the tense air in the room and the fighting stance Illumi was poised in, ready to crack like a whip, Chrollo calmly retrieved his phone from his pocket.

Nobody spoke, the silence in the tense air so thick that the sound of the beeping of numbers pressed on Chrollo’s phone felt as loud as the explosion that had rang through the estate, or the distant sound of the other party attendees screaming in panic a few floors below them.

IIllumi and Hisoka stared at Chrollo as the phone rang in his hand. The click of someone answering the phone on the other line.

“Ah, yes hello. Yes, the job is complete. No, no difficulties. Well, there is just one particular situation presently. Yes.”

Illumi and Hisoka both had a similar deadpanned expression as they listened to Chrollo talk on the phone, unmoving. The tension in the room fading like the cloud of smoke around them.

“Understood. I will let him know.” Chrollo finished his call and hung up, pocketing his phone before meeting the two men’s stares, alternating between them amiably before landing on Illumi.

“The dealer wants to buy you out.”

“That was him on the phone just now.” Illumi stated the obvious in order to get Chrollo to elaborate.

“Yes. He said he will pay you double the amount of your client’s hit, but with the condition that the money will be given in person to avoid a money wiring transfer that can be tracked.”

Illumi seemed to consider that. He put his needles away then, inserting them into the fabric of his dress-- where there _was_ dress, at least, Chrollo noting how exposed Illumi actually was before brushing the observation away.

“Deal.”

Hisoka hummed by his side, seemingly entertained by the whole thing.

Chrollo walked up to Illumi, offering a hand in gesture of amity. Then calmly putting the hand away when Illumi only glanced at his extended hand blankly, making no moves to shake it.

“Of course, I will be there to serve as conciliation that there will be no intentions for underhanded attempts at forfeiting the deal for a surprise attack.”

Illumi replied, “That is not necessary. I do not see any potential danger in this deal. If anyone threatens the integrity of the mission, I will simply eliminate them. Including the dealer if he has shorthanded motives to try and attack.” He continued, casting a side glance at Hisoka, “Me and Hisoka are plenty enough to deal with any surprise attack.”

Chrollo looked at Hisoka, then, who stood with arms loosely crossed with alternating looks between Illumi and Chrollo-- grinning wide, seemingly pleased or turned on, Chrollo couldn’t quite tell. Probably both, he concluded. Chrollo looked back to Illumi.

“That may be true, but consider it a pleasantry. I will accompany you both up until the end of your mission, once the money is handed over to you and--”

“I refuse” Illumi cut in.

Hisoka shot Ilumi a surprised look, mirroring the same surprise on Chrollo’s face. Illumi kept his eyes on Chrollo, face impassive and blank.

“Ah, I see, you would prefer to complete this mission alone” he glanced at Hisoka who was grinning wider than he thought possible-- perhaps, not exactly alone, Chrollo mused with peaked interest-- “That is quite fine. We can return to the city together, at least. I will give you the location of the dealer’s whereabouts there, once we’ve left this scene.”

“So I was correct to assume you were lying when you said you didn’t know anything” Illumi said with a cock of his head-- hair fell off his shoulder when he did so.

Chrollo only looked apologetic as he offered a smile, an admittance in itself.

“We can discuss the details once we’ve reached our destination.”

Illumi nodded. 

With the deal closed, Chrollo prompted them both to follow him out the door. As he took the lead in front of them, he gave Hisoka and Illumi a passing look-- wondering curiously at the state of their being there, dressed finely and clearly under the impression of being a couple. It was something Chrollo hadn't imagined the assassin agreeing to. His mind went to Illumi, then.

There was a certain attractiveness to the eldest Zoldyck, the spot of inky darkness in the otherwise already dark family. He seemed to suffocate the air and light around him wherever he walked, a complete walking contradiction Chrollo thought, considering the meaning of the name _Illumi_ \-- to envelope all things in light.

Chrollo acknowledged the attraction he felt for the oldest Zoldyck, curiously, before dismissing it. Chrollo was nothing if not patient. He would bide his time before making his offer. Chrollo would like to see the unrepressed darkness in the man run wild-- he could show Illumi true freedom, like a messiah he could give him the key to finding himself. 

For now, Chrollo would set up the pieces and wait.

\---

Hisoka had always been lucky.

The amount of times he should have been dead by now was way beyond what he could count, or bother to keep track of once the number far exceeded what he could count on his fingers. He should have been killed years ago before he had the chance to become practically unkillable, a monster in his own rights.

Part of the reason he hadn’t died nameless in the streets of meteor city as an abandoned runt was born of natural skill and raw survival instinct-- the other part, was his gift of good luck.

They were making their way out of the estate in cordial agreement of their temporary alliance, ignoring the drum of panicked guests asking equally confused staff what the racket above them was, if they were in danger, if they were under attack-- completely ignorant of what had transpired, and the fact that the bloodbath was already done.

Chrollo and Illumi walked in front of Hisoka as he trailed leisurely behind the two. Hisoka grinned, admiring the view.

Illumi was shifted back to his original form by the time Hisoka had made his way upstairs. The erection he had managed to control during the walk there sprang back to life when he saw him-- deadly, cold, lifeless eyes ready to attack the surprising sight of Chrollo poised still with a disarmingly polite smile as he faced off with Illumi, in the same dress and heels that still fit him wonderfully even when detransformed.

He couldn’t help the lust that emerged from him like a thick cloud as he walked behind the two-- looking up and down Illumi’s broad back, wide shoulders, strong arms and legs exposed by the flirtatious garment he wore. Oh, it had been a great idea.

Illumi turned his head around to shoot Hisoka a pointed look, before looking straight ahead again to shut the magician out instead.

Hisoka wanted to fight them both, then and there.

Imagining fighting them both-- Illumi trying to end his life in a dress and heels, bathed in blood-- ending the reign of the spider leader at the same time, imagining the tears that would be shed over his unlikely death, a worthy battle ended by Hisoka-- tempted him almost over the edge. But he was never one for instant gratification. He could have his fun later, he would cash in his fight with Chrollo when the situation was fully ripe. He licked his lips in anticipation.

They were out of the estate, and made their way into the forest.

Chrollo stopped suddenly, once they were deep into the woods, leaving the screams of the estate behind them outside ear-shot, and spoke out loud, “Kalluto, the situation has changed. You are free to come out from hiding now.”

Kalluto complied, gracefully descending from the tree he had been perched on in a flourish of kimono.

Illumi had blinked at hearing the youngest Zoldyck’s name, but said evenly as he approached closer to greet him, “Hello, Kallu. It’s nice to see you.”

“Hello, Illu-nii” Kalluto said, regarding his appearance with a brief muted astonishment, then turned to Chrollo almost hesitantly adding, “I was listening to the entire encounter with my paper dolls.”

Hisoka was grinning again, not expecting to see the young Zoldyck, either. He had always been lucky. The cards in front of him expanded with possibilities, until there were so many things he wanted to do he couldn’t choose a single one.

Chrollo spoke with a smile and addressed Kalluto, “I see. Then you are aware we will be temporarily accompanying Hisoka and Illumi on their mission, just until we reach the city” he turned to the two men, “We will take an airship to the next city over. That’s where we will depart from eachother, after I give the details of where to find your target.”

Chrollo looked at Illumi singularly now. 

“Before we start making our way out of the forest, do you need a change of footwear first?” 

Chrollo looked purposefully at the heels Hisoka let Illumi borrow (all of Hisoka’s heels were no smaller than 3 inches, he wouldn’t settle for less). His eyes trailed back up Illumi's form to meet his eyes-- slowly-- it was subtle, but there, and of course Hisoka caught it with a growing enlightenment. His eyes trained on to Chrollo, widened with surprise and twisted delight.

“That’s not necessary, thank you” before Hisoka could even further process the delightful realization he discovered, Illumi raised a leg up in the air then slammed it hard against a nearby rock, breaking off the heel in one swift motion.

Hisoka stared at the assassin, in shock, as his face fell in absolute horror.

“I am fine now” Illumi offered a small smile after he did the same with Hisoka’s other beloved heel, as if he hadn’t just cracked a part of Hisoka’s heart with it.

Hisoka pouted for an entire hour as they all walked in relative silence to their destination. Illumi looked at him once, head tilted, but didn’t press it.

\---

Kalluto was a manipulator, just like his older brother.

If he had learned anything from his brother (which was a lot, Illumi had been the one to train him while mother and father were busy fussing over Killua) it was the ability to feign ignorance in order to get the advantage over his enemies.

Kalluto had done it well, better than Illumi. Illumi was good at keeping his emotions kept at bay, concealed. Kalluto on the other hand excelled at tricking others into believing he was at the mercy of their words or abilities, showing emotion but showing them falsely in a way that made others unwittingly fall prey to his manipulation, believing Kalluto to be unassuming and powerless.

It was how Kalluto was always able to analyze others without their knowing, judging their worthiness and skills while they believed Kalluto to be watching with awe and wonder. Only few had actually made the young boy display real awe and wonder. Chrollo was one of them. 

Even though he knew Chrollo was a mountain of power he couldn’t see the top of, Kalluto still tested the leader boldly-- he had been listening with his paper dolls as Chrollo confronted his brother and the ex-phantom troupe member Hisoka, wondering with a sadistic curiosity if Chrollo would be defeated if he were to fight Illu-nii. He was outmatched. Kalluto believed in Illumi’s strength that much.

There were other realizations he made on their mostly silent, hours long trip through the forest. For starters, how his older brother had not reacted the way he expected when Hisoka shimmied his way close to him, and extended a hand to his shoulder to raise the strap of his dress that had been slipping off. Kalluto tensed, expecting to see Hisoka’s hand ripped off clean-- but to his surprise, nothing happened. Illumi simply dismissively swatted his hand away, and didn’t say much else, not even making eye contact even though Hisoka had been teetering on the edge of Illumi’s valued personal space.

Secondly. Chrollo had taken the opportunity to talk to Illumi when they were the only ones up ahead from the rest of the group. Kalluto discreetly used his paper dolls to creep up on the conversation, summoned with the barest amount of aura where he could only faintly hear, but well enough, knowing better now than to underestimate Chrollo’s ability to catch his spying in the act. He heard bits and pieces of the conversation.

- _You know, I have the feeling you would fit in quite well with the phantom troupe along with Kalluto. Have you ever considered joining?-_

Kalluto looked at Illumi’s back, his head was not turned to meet Chrollo’s in conversation.

_-Why would I do that?-_

_-This mission you were assigned to is proof alone of a power dynamic shift. Silva has assigned you as the designated Zoldyck that takes care of the unwanted assignments, am I correct?-_

The back of Illumi’s head turned to look at Chrollo finally, and he didn’t miss a beat.

_-I don’t appreciate you assuming my position within my family. Are you saying that as reason why I should join your organization, or are you saying that to criticise the Zoldyck name?-_

_-You will find that my intentions are only to your benefit, and because I can assure you will be a very important member to the group, should you join.-_

_-I serve only my father. Unless you pay me, I won’t be doing anything out of my own free will that isn’t demanded of me.-_

_-Do you not have desires of your own, Illumi?-_

Illumi did not answer. Kalluto watched as Illumi turned his head away again, staring off into the distance in front of him.

When Chrollo cast a curious glance at Kalluto from behind, Kalluto immediately stopped listening and retrieved his paper dolls-- he hadn’t been careful enough. Only watched as Chrollo’s head turned back to Illumi and a surprise bloomed on his features. Kalluto did not hear what caused it.

For as calculating as Kalluto was, subtle and commanding in a way that felt as elegant as the drapes of his mother’s dresses, he was not all-seeing--far from it. Having been so focused on the conversation between his older brother and his leader, his attention and observation fell away from the magician that he had not even noticed slipped away from the group.

Later, before anyone could catch on to his disappearance, Hisoka snuck back to the group, looking devious and content as he pocketed the phone he held in his hand.

\---

The four stood, faces illuminated with red light dancing across the shadows of their faces. They had finally made it to the airship they would ride to the next city over after six long hours traveling from the location of the estate hidden deep in the woods.

They were prepared to make haste with their missions, and on with their lives but the task would have to be delayed, now.

The airship was on fire.

“Hm, it seems like the airship is on fire” Hisoka pointed out as if they weren’t all staring straight in the face at their ride lit ablaze in flames which would now be cancelled and delayed until the morning came.

“That seems to be the case” Chrollo responded, without much help.

Kalluto and Illumi remained silent, didn’t exchange a glance or blink an eye at the scene before them. Illumi, however, seemed to be studying, analyzing, thoughts ruminating through his mind as he dissected the scene.

“It seems we will have to wait until morning before we can depart. Luckily there is a hotel nearby we can spend the night in.” Hisoka added airily-- innocently. Illumi shot a look at Hisoka, his eyes squinting at him in suspicion.

“Well, not much we can do about it. Every flight will have to be cancelled for further inspection. The next available flight should be at 7AM. We can take that one instead” Chrollo announced without missing a beat. He didn’t seem to be the type to be easily inconvenienced.

“That sounds good to me~” Hisoka made eye contact with Illumi as he spoke to the other two, “Shall we make our way there now?”

Illumi held his stare with large black orbs that betrayed no emotion. Even as they made their way to the hotel, Illumi did not once look away-- analyzing Hisoka with cold intensity. Even when they checked into the hotel-- to find three rooms had been reserved by an anonymous person and then made available to them because the anonymous person’s transaction was voided when they failed to confirm the reservation by a certain time-- Illumi did not blink away from the magician.

Three rooms. It was obvious.

“Why Illumi, you have been staring at me for ten full minutes. Is there something on my face?”

“Obviously, I intend to share the room with Kalluto.”

“Hm, what ever do you mean?” Hisoka blinked at him with a finger pressed coyly to his lips.

“Your plan has failed”

“I am flattered you think I’ve coordinated something, even though I’ve been with everyone the entire time”

“There are two explanations I can think of, just at the top of my head”

Illumi --finally-- broke his severe stare to look at Chrollo and Kalluto, who were still at the front desk collecting the key passes for the rooms, Chrollo making polite conversation with the blushing woman at the counter.

“You want an excuse to delay the flight so you can fight your spider, or to have sex with me”

Hisoka seemed thrilled, eyes widening with a fanged smirk.

“Hmm, close, but not exactly. Although if you want to have sex, I wouldn’t decline.”

Illumi tilted his head, ignoring his tease, appreciating distantly that he didn’t mention how they almost _did_ on the bloody marble floor of the estate just a few hours ago. 

“I was wrong?”

Hisoka stepped closer, making his way into Illumi’s personal space.

“I suppose you will have to wait and see” Chrollo and Kalluto were approaching them now, and Hisoka added with a low whisper, “But are you really so sure you should leave me alone without supervision?”

Illumi heard the threat in the remark but decided to ignore it. Clearly Hisoka was trying to get under his skin again-- or under his clothes-- and Illumi wouldn’t entertain the man by playing his game. This particular game of his was compromising his mission, and he wouldn’t stand for it.

Wouldn’t bite. Wouldn’t think back to the moment in the estate, with their fingers tangled, when he was definitely one step away from tearing Hisoka’s clothes off, mission forgotten and compromised all by his own doing due to his failed restraint. 

Perhaps Illumi would re-train himself to burn away the strange burning desire that almost took him over-- he would take a larger dose of poison, would store his needles away on sensitive skin instead of his hardened chest. Anything to burn down the hypocrisy of his words-- _if he wanted Hisoka, he would have already been his_.

He lay awake in bed. He was warm and freshly showered, finally out of the broken heels and sultry dress and in his sleepwear. Blankets smothered his entire body except his unblinking eyes staring holes into the ceiling above him. Kalluto was already fast asleep on the second bed by his side.

What were Hisoka’s motives?

If his goal was to have sex with Illumi, he wouldn’t have prolonged the duration of time the additional company would be with them. Unless he really believed Illumi would really let desire so easily consume him a second time and especially with Kalluto in the next room over.

Fighting Chrollo was another real possibility-- but doing so with Chrollo unguarded was not Hisoka’s style. He would fight Chrollo where all eyes could bear witness to it. It’d be a televised event, if he could help it.

His words came back to Illumi like the invading buzz of a fly -- _Are you really so sure you should leave me alone without supervision?_

It was not like Illumi to let such a threat bother him, and it didn’t. Even if he slept in peace and Hisoka did try to pull off another stunt, Illumi would catch it before it had time to execute completely. It was more the need to know, the need to make Hisoka feel the overwhelming disappointment when Illumi tore his carefully hatched plans to shreds before it could even reach the point of execution, that drove Illumi to get out of bed.

Kalluto stirred. “Illu-nii?”

Illumi turned toward the sleeping form of Kalluto who had woken up and was blearily looking in his direction at the door. 

“Sorry for waking you, Kallu. Go back to sleep, I am simply running an errand before bed.”

Kalluto didn’t question any further as he nodded sleepily and landed back on to his pillows, cuddling in closer within his blankets. Illumi looked at him with a warped fondness. If Hisoka’s plans had anything to do with bringing harm on Kalluto, he would rip his heart out on the spot before he could blink, without any hesitation.

Illumi made it to Hisoka’s room, which was in between the one Kalluto and Illumi shared and Chrollo’s. He turned the knob, curiously finding it already unlocked. The hotel rooms they had were hardly luxurious-- simple, one room living spaces with only a single bed, refrigerator, television, shower and bathroom. When Illumi opened the door and stepped inside, he found Hisoka there, laid out on the bed on his side with an arm holding up his head, turned towards the door.

He was also very much naked.

Illumi blinked, fixing his gaze on Hisoka’s face. His hair was wet and dishevelled, and back to its original red.

“Can’t sleep?”

“You planned that.”

“Hm?” Hisoka brought a leg closer to his body-- it made the towel that was the only thing covering up his crotch dip a little lower, and the movement made Illumi shoot a look down to it. Illumi pointedly looked back up to Hisoka’s face, caught.

“Is this supposed to be seducing, because it would be hard to do so while you are getting on my nerves” Illumi didn’t think about how he had been seduced by Hisoka’s bloody valentine heart display. Hisoka spared Illumi again by not mentioning it.

“Oh? I thought that’s why you were visiting my room at--” Hisoka glanced at the clock on the wall “1 AM.”

“I am here to keep an eye on you. I still do not understand your intentions by prolonging our mission with this pointless delay.”

“Hmm, that’s a secret. Are you having fun trying to figure it out?”

“No, not exactly.”

“Shall we make it more fun, then?”

Illumi didn’t respond, only tilted his head in question. He wasn’t amused, if the tightness of the line of his lips was anything to go by.

Hisoka continued, “I’ll tell you… but only if you manage to send me flying with a hit.”

“That is not so difficult.”

Hisoka smiled, “That’s what makes it so much fun. You’re guaranteed to win, and get information out of me after.” 

Hisoka stood up out of the bed, letting the towel drop from his waist as he surveyed Illumi down with bright, gleaming eyes. “The only question is a matter of how long it’ll take before you can finally land a hit square enough to send me flying.”

Illumi disregarded Hisokas prowling fighting stance and the aura that suddenly took over the room in a storm of pink, purple, black. Kept his relaxed posture in place, unblinking.

“Put on pants first.”

The thick aura disappeared as Hisoka blinked, face planting as he looked down.

“No?”

“No, I will not fight you until you put pants on first”

Hisoka took the intermission, walking up to his briefcase and silently putting on a pink pair of silk sleep shorts.

“Good.” Illumi quirked a small smile. Then cut through the air as he shot at Hisoka like a bullet, twirling in the air with a graceful arc of his legs before slamming his heel down at Hisoka’s head, which Hisoka easily blocked with his forearm. 

The impact sounded in the room with a shockwave, and Hisoka grinned wildly. He hooked an arm around Illumi’s calf to which Illumi responded with a barrage of lightning-quick punches to Hisoka’s face. He blocked them all with a single arm, twisted the second arm around Illumi’s calf down, propelling Illumi down to the floor hard. Illumi caught the floor before his back could slam into it with both hands twisted behind his back, pushing himself up with his upper body and sent a foot flying at Hisoka’s chin. 

Hisoka dodged it just in time, and caught the hand that flew mid-air at him. Illumi ripped his hand away, finding it didn’t budge-- Hisoka’s palms were covered in bungee gum, he realized. 

Hisoka used the advantage to pull them in closer, until they were chest to chest and unmoving, a tense moment where they were at a standstill. Memories of lips down his neck flashed in Illumi’s mind, hands pinned to the wall, bodies flush, chest to chest, warm. With his other hand, he sent a needle flying into the hand that held his with bungee gum until it slackened and released him.

If Hisoka planned to fight dirty, so would Illumi.

Before Hisoka could raise his other hand to punch him, Illumi grabbed Hisoka by the neck and turned their bodies around so that he was facing the wall. That made Hisoka freeze, he looked at Illumi with surprise. 

Before he could break into his smirk Illumi knew was coming, he shoved Hisoka against the wall and crashed their lips together. Hisoka fell into the kiss immediately, moving his hands around Illumi to grab his waist and bring them closer.

Illumi kissed him-- tongues entwined, bodies pressed together, heat scorching between them, mouths moving in rhythm together, his arms against the wall as he cradled Hisoka’s head, different than last time now that Illumi wasn’t in disguise but just as liquefying-- for a moment longer than necessary, before he broke the kiss --breaths mingling, golden eyes warm and bright staring at him, wet and humid, Illumi’s name on Hisoka’s lips in a breathed _Oh, Illumi,_ burning--.

Illumi grabbed Hisoka’s arm, twisted his body around and with an easy swing, sent Hisoka flying straight across the room.

He landed with a loud crash against the television on the wall, shattering the screen and sending pixels scattering across the room in an explosive rain of glass. Hisoka fell ungracefully down to the floor with a-- _oof_.

Illumi stood hovered over Hisoka as his hair draped over the light above his head as Hisoka lay flat on his back.

“I sent you flying.”

“You tricked me.” Hisoka blinked up at Illumi, unamused.

Illumi looked away in a way Hisoka would classify as being as sheepish as the assassin could manage. The way his finger went up to his chin was almost playful, almost shy. Illumi was very clearly having fun, afterall, messing with Hisoka.

“Your entire fighting style is one based on trickery. I was simply paying it forward.”

“That’s cruel. And dirty. I don’t feel like telling you my reasons anymore.” Hisoka got up and brushed himself off, crossing his arms in defiance.

“That was the deal.” Was Hisoka actually offended? Illumi tilted his head.

“You’ve given me another erection.”

Illumi looked down-- Hisoka’s sleep shorts were hiked down far enough where he could see the dip of his V-line and the obvious bulge underneath it. Looked back up.

Hisoka was grinning with a fanged smile.

“Anyways, my plan worked.”

Ilumi was growing impatient now. Took a needle out and raised it in warning.

“What was your plan? If it wasn’t to try to sleep with me, why were you lounged naked and expecting me to visit?”

“I’ll give you a hint” Hisoka hummed, approaching closer as he’s done hundreds of times already, Illumi already accustomed to the breach of space. “I wanted to make others understand you weren’t up for taking.”

Hisoka backed away then, smiling at the imperceptible furrow of Illumi’s brows, training on to it so easily now.

“Good night, Illumi.”

Illumi put his needle down and walked out, leaving Hisoka smiling and satisfied behind him. He thought about his words carefully, unable to pick the meaning from them. Returning to bed by Kalluto’s side, Illumi let the words fade in the distance as they echoed through his mind.

One room over, Chrollo laid awake in bed. 

He was awakened by the sounds that came from Hisoka’s room-- murmuring, a clash of skin against skin, a loud thud against his wall, the sound of something shattering, more hushed noises, the sound of a door closing shut, a moan and a dark chuckle.

Chrollo let his eyes drift back shut as he thought back to Hisoka’s appearance-- his bruised lip, his mussed hair. Illumi in a dress, disguised, moisture on his neck. Pieces of an unwanted puzzle finally connecting as he put the dots together, before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hisoka snuck away from the group to call hotel services and was put on hold with elevator music playing in the background for five whole minutes before he rejoined w everyone idk how nobody noticed


	5. Coupled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Heed updated rating and tags!

The morning came relatively easy. Illumi had woken up before anyone, taking the time to hover over Kalluto and stare at him as he slept, once he had gotten ready for the day. Kalluto had stirred in his sleep and woke up a half hour later with a startled scream, falling off the bed with a thud.

After the rest of the group collected their bearings, they headed out to the airport to ride the airship that was finally available for their boarding. Hisoka had his usual facepaint and gelled up hair-- it had been a while since Illumi saw it up, considering the weeks spent together he had seen it hang freely over his eyes.

Chrollo seemed strange-- resigned, but friendly still. The four were crowded into a single booth, Chrollo directly across from Illumi and Kalluto across from Hisoka.

Illumi was attentive, listening to Chrollo impart him instructions on where to find the dealer. It was all relatively simple. This whole time, he had been hiding in an underground hideout a few miles away from the city they were to stop at. He would get his cash payment, give Hisoka a cut, and return to the manor to continue his search for Killua. Illumi ignored something bitter that washed up in his throat.

He thought back to Chrollo’s offer of joining the spiders-- _he’d be a valued member of the group_ \--, -- _do you not have desires of your own, Illumi?_ \-- the spider leader’s voice rang in a memory. Imagining following another’s orders by will that wasn’t his fathers made his spine tingle unpleasantly.

If he were to be a pawn, being used for the sake of the Zoldyck name was the only way he would have it. There was no space in his heart for anything else-- desires, dreams, friends. He had let go of those things before even the first memory he had.

Chrollo asked if he had any other questions, looking at him kindly.

“No.” Illumi looked at Kalluto who had been sitting quietly analyzing, with sharp eyes landing on Illumi, then at Hisoka and Chrollo like he had been the entire morning, as if he were figuring something out even Illumi didn’t know. Kalluto was perceptive in a way that made Illumi filled with pride.

No matter how unpleasant working under Chrollo felt to Illumi personally, Kalluto seemed stronger upon joining the troupe, and for that he felt indebted with a sense of appreciation. Illumi gave Chrollo a thoughtful look, “Thank you for your assistance, Chrollo.”

Chrollo gave him a genuine smile.

“No problem. And remember, my offer will always be open for your consideration.”

Illumi nodded.

Upon landing, Chrollo and Kalluto went on their way and so did Hisoka and Illumi. Illumi gave a small wave goodbye at Kalluto who bowed formally as he departed with the spider leader.

Illumi watched them walk away, eyes trained on Kalluto as he saw him turn his head towards Chrollo and say something he couldn’t hear, but it made Chrollo turn his head at the boy with a look of impressed surprise, then resignation and something else-- hope or confidence or calm conviction.

Turned, Illumi and Hisoka walked away as silence fell over them. They had no other stops now-- no other intermissions, they would collect the money and depart from one another. Illumi had no other reason to stay longer. 

Once he sent his father the message that the job was done, he would return home and his life would return to the way it’s been. Almost, to the way it's been. Illumi thought of what other relegated missions he’d be assigned to-- the long, grueling diplomatic meetings Silva had been in charge of attending, the simple kills butlers could manage on their own, the incredibly slow and long-lasting stake outs. It would be over with, and he would accept the consequences.

Perhaps he’d be able to recruit Hisoka for other missions like this one. Maybe he’d make him his permanent ally.

Hisoka, growing bored in the silence, decided to interrupt Illumi’s musings.

“Hey Illu~”

“No”

“I didn’t even say anything yet”

Illumi feigned snapping out his thoughts in mock surprise. “Ah, sorry, I said ‘no’ out of pure instinct to hearing you say my name in that tone”

Hisoka seemed amused. “Illumi.. are you being playful with me?”

“Mmm, yes.”

Hisoka didn’t seem to expect the honest answer. 

“Eh, really?”

“Ah, there it is”

Illumi pointed with a finger right at Hisoka’s face-- his face was deadpanned, brows furrowed, his usually quirked lips a small circle of surprise.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoy making you make that face.”

Hisoka considered this, staring at Illumi with a sudden graveness in his expression.

“Hmm, I think we’ve been together for too long. I’m starting to rub off on you.”

“That isn’t true. I cannot be affected by your influence”

Hisoka glanced down to Illumi’s clothes. Illumi followed his gaze. He was wearing a sleeveless green crop top with a tight red undershirt and matching loose fitting green pants. Hisoka was wearing a sleeveless white crop top with a tight blue undershirt and matching loose fitting white pants. The only difference really was that Illumi had his needles inserted in his chest piece and Hisoka bore a large black spade and club design.

“Ah, that is the one exception.”

Illumi and Hisoka went on like this-- bantering, Illumi realized. He wondered if kissing Hisoka twice now had anything to do with the change of pace of their conversations. For once, Illumi was the one pitching and Hisoka was the one serving back.

They were nearly at the entrance of the dealer’s hideout, and the two of them had gone from talking about how Illumi --didn’t-- steal Hisoka’s fashion sense, to Illumi explaining to Hisoka that most of his wardrobe was green for the purpose of blending in with his surroundings therefore he --wouldn’t-- humor wearing more pink, to how Illumi couldn’t imagine Hisoka blending in with civilization for more than a day, to talking about how Hisoka was --obviously, he said-- capable of handling the mundane tasks of basic society like making grocery trips or paying for bills, Illumi told Hisoka he couldn’t imagine such a thing, Hisoka invited Illumi to visit his apartment in Heaven’s Arena on any Sunday at midnight which was when he usually went out to do routine shopping trips so that he could prove it to him, Illumi not accepting the challenge offer but not declining it either--

Illumi wasn’t sure what compelled him to humor Hisoka with his prying questions, he wasn’t sure he’d ever talked that much in response about such mundane topics that weren’t the usual -- _Yes, Understood, No, Mission Completed, I understand_ \--.

Hisoka was asking Illumi what his favorite fruit was when the flow of their conversation was cut short as Illumi circuited back to the job at hand, much to Hisoka’s disappointment (which he expressed with an aggrieved sigh).

Before he knew it, they faced a large tunnel entrance at the bottom of a barren river dam, the exact location Chrollo described. They had finally made it to their destination. Poised, Illumi took the lead, walking into the humid and dank tunnel, and Hisoka followed right behind.

\---

They had been walking through the tunnel for minutes now and the only sounds and sights that greeted them were the echoing of their footsteps and droplets falling from condensation on rusted steel. The tunnel offered them only an eerie silence and darkness that only progressed the deeper they walked.

Illumi was about to lose patience and use En to scope out his surroundings instead, when a loud noise came from behind them where the entrance sounded with a boom, reverberating throughout the silence of the tunnel they were deep within. 

The light from the entrance far behind them which was only a speck in the distance completely faded out and they were both suddenly encapsulated in pitch darkness. Only a second later, several ominous green luminescent lights rolled all around Illumi and Hisoka like fireflies in a night sky. 

The light itself was enough to illuminate the darkness away in a dull green glow that created ominous shadows across Illumi and Hisoka as they shot a mutually understanding look between eachother at the situation before them. Illumi was about to investigate what the light that surrounded them on the ground was when his question was answered almost immediately. He heard Hisoka chuckle next to him.

All at once, a thick cloud of translucent gray bursted from the --Illumi now knew-- smoke grenades that surrounded them both. It was a grave mistake, Illumi thought easily. That someone should back away from a deal made with the assassin and company.

The dim green glow that uncovered the smoke in the room multiplied, suddenly, as four green lights became twenty. Men with gas masks and pistols surrounded them. Hisoka and Illumi shifted to stand back to back on instinct.

Illumi commented, “Hisoka, I think it is due time that you have your fun.”

He could hear the grin in the magician’s voice, and the fwip of cards being pulled out. 

“There has never been a boring moment so far, dearest Illumi.”

And with that, a crack sounded in the room like thunder as Hisoka and Illumi both shot out like equally deadly indestructible weapons disguised as men. 

Bullets fired through smoke in a loud barrage of flickering lights, but none could land a hit on Hisoka or Illumi as the bullets whizzed by uselessly. Illumi threw a line of needles straight through several men’s necks. He grabbed a dying man and used him as a shield as he ran closer towards the direction of more bullets, reaching out and crushing a pistol in one hand as he flung a needle right through one of the men’s gas masks right in between their eyes.

Meanwhile, Hisoka walked with swaying hips as he used bungee gum to catch every bullet shot at him. With a flick of his wrist, he shot the same bullets back out at the men and aimed straight for their foreheads, their target met with a resounding squelch as the men fell like ragdolls all around him.

Illumi flipped in the air, caught the top of Hisoka’s shoulders mid flight and used him to propel himself to the other side of the space around them. He landed with a graceful flutter of ink black hair swaying and Hisoka watched with delight as he lined himself behind two unsuspecting men and jabbed a hand through both of the men’s chests and ripped out their hearts at the same time, without a single droplet of blood falling-- a trick learned from his father.

A man appeared from the smoke behind Illumi whose hands had been occupied, taking the advantage to swing a large butcher knife at the assassin. A strangled noise of desperation and surprise caught in the man’s throat as he found he couldn’t swing down. Hisoka flicked a finger and the confused man’s wrist twisted and snapped-- bungee gum played the man like a fiddle as the line of Hisoka’s hatsu connected to the man’s other hand and flung it up, causing the man to stab himself and collapse behind Illumi’s feet in a puddle of seeping red.

Illumi and Hisoka made eye contact. Something electric passed between their gazes, the smoke around them still thick and heavy like the adrenaline coursing through them both. Hisoka walked closer to Illumi and reached out to push a strand of hair back that had caught on the corner of his mouth. Without even meaning to, Illumi leaned imperceptibly into the touch, but Hisoka caught the slight movement as he licked his lips.

Twenty men with gas masks and guns laid around the two-- none of them were left alive. Blood covered the walls and the floor with splashes of red against rusted steel. Some of it had gotten on the side of Hisoka’s face, and some of it had gotten on Illumi’s clothes. The smoke in the air made Illumi feel more light headed than usual, it filled his lungs entirely, inescapable. It made Illumi feel like if he weren’t already trained to be immune to 99% of all kinds of poisons and intoxicants, the smoke may have made him lightheaded enough to drop his inhibitions.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached them, making Illumi point his attention at the sound, until a tall bearded man in a simple black suit stood with a gas mask in the middle of the carnage and said with a deep voice, “You must be Illumi. And your guest. Please excuse the actions of my men, I have your payment ready in the room ahead of us. Please, come with me.”

“Are you the dealer?” Illumi asked.

“That would be me, yes. I suppose you have more questions, and I will answer them readily. But let’s get out of the smoke, first.”

Illumi and Hisoka followed the dealer further into the tunnel until the smoke disappeared behind them finally. They reached the end where a large unassuming metal door connected to another room. They walked inside after the man, into a large room with a red carpet and red velvet loveseats and a bar area with expensive wine, scotch, whiskey bottles on cabinets. It was comfortable and lavish at the same time.

Illumi didn’t waste any time.

“Were your intentions to kill us?”

The dealer had removed his gas mask and lit himself a cigar as he puffed out tendrils of smoke in ringlets into the air above him.

“No. I had simply not informed my men of our deal. I could not risk a coup by any of them disagreeing with the decision to buy out those threatening our syndicate, and from what Chrollo told me, I was sure neither of you would have any trouble handling them.” He laughed suddenly and looked at Illumi knowingly, “Besides, I would have a death wish if I wanted to engage against the Zoldyck family by not fulfilling my side of the deal.”

“You would rather your men die instead of risk a mutiny?” Hisoka questioned. “That just seems highly disadvantageous to you.”

The dealer gave a crooked smile, “They are all replaceable. I only have real respect for those with power. Money, status, strength, intelligence, reputation. Any man without power doesn’t deserve being given the chance to live. I would rather not risk even the slightest chance for such a shameless act of betrayal.”

Hisoka hummed. “You are a highly wanted man and it took some time trying to find you, as you might be aware. I would have been disappointed if you weren’t at least interesting. Even if you are wrong in the head.”

The dealer brought out a briefcase, handing it to Illumi who took it and opened it, registering that the agreed amount of money was in it. Closed it back up when he deemed the amount accurate and nodded.

But before Illumi could verbally confirm the transaction was credible and make the sign for their departure, the dealer turned to look at Hisoka. 

“Say, did you grow up in meteor city?”

He regarded Hisoka carefully, smoke drifting up from his cigar as his deepset gray eyes glazed over in a memory he began pulling from the back of his mind.

Hisoka met his eyes with a curious look of interest, “Hmm, I did. Why do you ask?”

“You seem familiar. I grew up there too, that’s where I met Chrollo.”

“Oh?”

Hisoka didn’t seem any bit taken aback by the idea of somebody recognizing him from his past, only entertained-- curious, with a raise of his brow.

The dealer continued, “There was a sort of urban legend popular in the slums back then. Of a boy adopted by the circus after they found him deserted and completely covered head to toe in blood, with a man and a woman lying at his feet. Both of them with an ace of hearts deep enough in their chest to pierce into their hearts. 

“The story goes that it was raining hard that day, but the blood on the boy wouldn’t wash off of him, like it was stuck to his skin somehow, and there was so much of it that it made his black hair completely red without even a trace of the black. 

“People say even though his entire body was shaking, the boy in blood laughed, and laughed, so much that it could be heard throughout the slums despite how heavy it was raining. 

“He became known as the bloody boy, and the story was used to scare kids into thinking he’d come out when it rained, if you heard the sound of laughter or saw an ace of hearts card. Like a curse.”

Illumi had been listening with interest at the dealer’s story, completely engaged. When he turned to gauge Hisoka’s reaction, he saw his expression had not changed from its easygoing smile and raised brow.

“How interesting. I wonder if the stories are true.”

The dealer laughed. “Perhaps it’s all just an urban legend. But something about you reminded me of that boy.”

Hisoka kept his easygoing smile, still. But Illumi noticed something shift in his eyes he hadn’t recognized in him before-- he looked at Hisoka with a sudden curiosity growing in his mind.

Hisoka responded, “I’ve never been one to believe in urban legends. But I do believe that old ghosts can follow you.”

Illumi wondered at that response, finding the choice of words curious--old ghosts following. Illumi noticed the meaning Hisoka meant in those words. His eyes held something endless, dark. Much like what Illumi saw in his own eyes when he looked at himself in the mirror.

Illumi spoke, “We will take our leave now. I have validated that you have given me the appropriate amount of money, making this transaction complete. Then, goodbye.” Illumi turned on his feet and started to walk away. He heard the dealer hum in response.

“A pleasure to do business with you both.”

Hisoka eyed the dealer for a while longer before finally turning to follow Illumi, giving the dealer a final passing glance before leaving the smoking man behind in the room. The tunnel, lined with dead bodies and blood.

  
  


\---

When they exited the tunnel (the entrance had been blocked with a large boulder, which they easily cut into a thousand smaller stones) Illumi and Hisoka were greeted by a pilot in a personal aircraft, apparently ordered by the dealer to take the two men to their destinations as a, quote, ‘formal apology for allowing soldiers to gas then attack the two with guns’.

Illumi didn't question it as he graciously accepted the offer, hopping through the backdoor of the aircraft with Hisoka following. It was a relatively smaller mode of transportation compared to the airship, but comfortable with more than enough space inside to prepare themselves for the ten hour flight back to whoever would be dropped off first-- Heavens Arena or Kukuroo Mountain. The pilot emerged from the pilot room to ask for directions, Illumi decided to be polite and gave the directions for Heaven’s Arena.

Hisoka had already made his way to the long velvet beige sofas that lined all around the inside of the aircraft, lounging on his stomach with his legs kicking in the air and head laying on his palms. Illumi took his seat across from Hisoka and crossed his arms, laying back as he relaxed.

The mission, after nearly a month, had finally been complete. Illumi took out his phone, sending a message to his father.

Illumi: 2:35PM--- _The mission has been completed without complication. The target decided to buy out the hit for double the amount. Heading back to the manor, should be arriving in approximately ten hours._

Silva: 2:37PM--- _I will rescind the offer of the original hit and will await for your arrival at the manor. Good job, Illumi._

Illumi stared at the screen for several minutes in contemplation.

Vaguely, he felt Hisoka staring at him. He was still lounged on his stomach, head in hands, legs travelling up and down in dyssynchrony. Studying him.

“You are conflicted” Hisoka said, finally.

Illumi looked up from his phone, acknowledging the man at last. He had cleaned off the blood splattered across his face.

“I am not”

Hisoka leaned the weight of his head on one palm. “You are. I’ve become something of an expert in reading your body language, after all these weeks being together.”

“It has barely been a month. And no, you haven’t.” Illumi pocketed his phone and crossed his arms defiantly. Realized he was showing defiance and quickly put his hands neutrally to his side.

Hisoka smiled, catching the mistake--amused.

“Well, I have learned more about you as well.”

“Oh, like what?” Hisoka asked teasingly.

Illumi thought about that. Of Hisoka buying them take-out, unusually subdued as he played with his cards as they waited in their dirt cavern, quiet as he drew in his facepaint every morning as Illumi sleepily cleaned his needles, growing comfortable around Illumi as he no longer felt the need to gel up his hair in its characteristic bizarre hairstyle, the way he paid full attention whenever Illumi spoke to him about something.

“You are not as devious as I thought you were, originally.”

That made Hisoka hum with mirth in his eyes. “Am I not living up to your standards? Should I be more devious?”

Illumi only gave him a deadpanned look, which made Hisoka chuckle.

That wasn’t all there was to it, Illumi thought as he looked away from Hisoka. He thought back to the story the dealer had told of the boy in red, laughing and trembling in the rain with a dead pair by his feet, killed by his own hand. 

In the comfortable silence that washed over the two, Hisoka had gotten up from his lounged position to sit correctly as he shuffled through his deck of cards. Illumi noticed the way he stopped shuffling when he reached the ace of hearts before continuing again, like a hiccup.

Ace of hearts to the chest. Deep enough it pierced straight through their hearts.

The question burned on Illumi’s tongue with a great curiosity in his mind, until he couldn’t contain it and let himself ask.

“That boy was you, wasn’t it?”

Hisoka stopped his shuffling and he looked up at Illumi, who had scooted somewhat closer to Hisoka’s side of the circular sofa that rimmed the entire room and looked at him with interest apparent in his eyes, wordlessly asking for an answer.

Hisoka responded easily, “Yes, that boy was me”

Illumi blinked.

Hisoka conceded, giving him more. “The man and woman I killed were my parents. They used me for profit, making me win street gambling competitions with my knack for misdirection and deception.

“I would use my bungee gum to win every match in roulette wheel, craps, and the like. It got to the point where if I didn’t make a profit large enough to their satisfaction, I would be punished severely for it.” As he spoke, the look Illumi had seen earlier in the dealer’s hideout flashed again-- the endless darkness Illumi was familiar with as well.

“Then one day, I realized that I was powerful, very powerful, and that I could easily kill them. It took a single card before I was finally free of their control over me. Just like that.” Hisoka fiddled with the ace of hearts in his deck and pointed it at Illumi’s chest in gesture of how he’d done it before. He put the card back in the deck.

Illumi stopped looking at Hisoka. Instead he looked down at the ground between them, as he thought intently at what Hisoka had just told him freely. A realization was beginning to dawn on Illumi, suddenly. It hit him like a sack of bricks.

They were not so different.

Illumi understood the feeling of being used as a pawn. The key difference that made the two radically different in mindset was that Hisoka valued freedom of will above everything else in his life, and Illumi valued his family. To Illumi, he _wanted_ to be a pawn for the sake of his family. Hisoka had destroyed his so that he could escape that fate. 

They were fundamentally different, but all too similar at the same time. The endless darkness within them both and the unnatural power they had were testament to that alone. 

Illumi didn’t think he could truly understand that fundamental difference that breached the path between Hisoka and Illumi like crossroads, but he still entertained the idea-- the idea of valuing his free will, like Hisoka. The thought felt sacrilegious.

Chrollo’s words unbidden ran through his thoughts -- _do you not have desires of your own?--_ then his own words in the estate -- _if I wanted you, Hisoka, you would have already been mine_ \--.

He snapped out of his thoughts at that.

Illumi blinked, checked the clock on the wall. Two hours had passed already. He looked at Hisoka, who was contentedly silent and building a house of cards.

Watching Hisoka distantly as he built the house of cards, another realization dawned on him. But Illumi felt it like a betrayal in his mind, had known it was there for weeks now. If he were anyone else, he would be able to accept the desire he had-- but he was Illumi Zoldyck, the eldest child who would kill and serve and die for his family, with no space for anything else.

Illumi forced himself to fall asleep. And he did, with his head hanging down, eyes closed, arms crossed. He felt a curious glance from Hisoka, but he did not meet his gaze.

\---

Illumi woke up with a start, blearily rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he looked at the clock, he saw that a surprising seven hours had passed. 

He also realized that the thoughts and desires he had felt and tried to sleep away persisted even as he woke up. It occurred to Illumi, that they would not go away, with a simple sense of resignation. While he had been entertaining a life where he’d live by the same method Hisoka had been living his, he found himself think to a certain desire Illumi had denied himself over and over again. Simulating a Hisoka-style of living meant that he’d no longer deny himself-- in that simulation of a life, free-will and based desire reigned above all else.

Illumi looked at Hisoka. He was lounged on his back, holding his cards up above his face playing a one-person game Illumi wouldn’t bother trying to understand.

Hisoka drawled with the usual grin in his voice, without looking at Illumi. “You’re awake. I thought you had died, I was already writing your eulogy in my head. Would you like to hear it?”

Illumi ignored his question and finally voiced the conclusion he had reached in his mind out loud.

“I am going to have sex with you.”

Hisoka dropped the cards he was holding onto his face.

“Eh?”

Illumi was relentless, “Also, we might be acquaintance- friends. Not friends, but also not entirely acquaintances.”

Hisoka sat up-- his cards were completely scattered all across the floor now in an uncharacteristic ungracefulness-- and looked at Illumi like he had grown a third head.

“Illumi, did you become possessed?” Hisoka blinked, his eyes widened and brows shot up, a surprised circle of his lips before he furrowed his brows in further confusion.

Illumi looked at him blankly, then replied, “No. I just came to the conclusion that--” Illumi considered the words strangely, it felt atrocious, it felt wrong to adhere to his desires, to _want_ , but he had already finished his mission and his inhibitions had been lowered, and the bitter feeling in his throat had not left him from the moment his father had relegated his role “--That’s what I want.”

That seemed to do something because in a second, Hisoka was on Illumi, stradling him on his lap with fingers carded through his hair. He dipped his head, going in to attack Illumi’s mouth as his hands shot down to hook on Illumi’s pants, but before he could reach his lips, Illumi put a finger on Hisoka’s lips in a chiding gesture. The action made Hisoka stop then squint his eyes at Illumi in confusion.

“I have manners” Illumi cast a look to his right, where the pilot room was.

Hisoka followed his gaze, then looked back to Illumi with a faceplanted expression.

“Illumi, you have made needlemen out of regular passerbys to do your bidding until they died. But you draw the line here.”

“Yes.”

Hisoka got off of Illumi’s lap and sat beside him, still looking at Illumi who sat looking straight ahead unblinkingly.

“Did you tell me this an hour before our landing, to torment me?”

Illumi sideglanced at Hisoka with a small quirk of a smile on his lips.

“I am giving you resistance-training for free. Consider it an act out of our being acquaintance-friends.”

“Okay, now I am sure you are messing with me” Hisoka groaned.

Illumi pretended to not hear him.

\---

The aircraft was landing on top of Heaven’s Arena, their long flight finally coming to a close as they made their way to the impossibly tall height of the building, so high that they were practically within the clouds.

The aircraft had not even made contact with the building a few feet below when the backdoor slammed opened, causing a severe gust of wind to blow inside the space of the room. Illumi thought belatedly, that the pilot might need a raise after the hour of silent, heady tension even a normal civilian could feel emitted from the back room of the aircraft. 

He knew the pilot definitely deserved one, when Hisoka grabbed Illumi by the waist, threw him over his shoulder and jumped out of the still descending aircraft. He heard a startled noise from the pilot room as they both fell from the height, and Hisoka landed on his heels with an easy gracefulness, despite having fallen from such a high distance.

Illumi was not exactly amused. He was still thrown over Hisoka’s shoulder, his hair cascading down in a curtain over his own head.

“Hisoka, I am not luggage. Put me down before I break your arm.” Illumi grabbed the fabric on Hisoka’s back and tugged it, calling to Hisoka’s attention.

Hisoka hummed and walked up to a sturdy pipe, touching it before walking up to the edge of the building. They were so high up that they could not even see people on the ground below them, unless they squinted.

“Hm, no. And I don’t think you will.”

Illumi was about to challenge that bold claim, when suddenly he felt his stomach rise in a weightlessness and his hair fan up around his head as it swayed in the wind that passed across his face.

Hisoka had jumped from the edge of the building holding on to a strand of bungee gum attached up top. And with a brace of resistance, Illumi heard the explosive sound of glass shattering under Hisoka’s feet as they were catapulted into Hisoka’s apartment from the outside window. Illumi thought distantly that it’d be an inconvenience to repair the window and that they could’ve just taken the stairs.

Illumi, still draped across Hisoka’s shoulder in a boneless acceptance, felt Hisoka freeze. He craned his head around, his hair shifting off his eyes, and he was greeted with the view of four people in uniform that all read ‘Staff’, staring wide-eyed and jaw-dropped at Hisoka and Illumi who had just broken into the apartment from the outside. Hisoka analyzed the room, noticing most of his possessions had been vacated and put into large storage bins.

“Is there a reason you all are inside my apartment?” Hisoka asked politely, a strained annoyance in the edge of his voice like his patience was running thin and dangerous.

One of the staff members-- a freckled woman with dark curly hair-- sputtered in a still ever-present shock, “We-- Mr. Hisoka-- You-- You are being evicted from the apartment because you haven’t registered for a fight for some time. We sent out the delivery of the final eviction notice seven days ago and since you haven’t responded since, your belongings are being cleared out and will be moved to a temporary safe-keeping to be picked up by you later..”

“I see.”

Illumi shifted in his grip.

“I suggest you all leave right now.” Hisoka smiled at the staff, but it contained a certain fatality to it that made them stutter and storm out of the room in fright, calling out in a triage of-- “Yes sir, right away.”

Hisoka didn’t miss a beat. The staff had not even completely left the room yet when Hisoka flung Illumi down onto the wide sofa in the middle of the living room and trapped him with his body, with one hand on either side of his expressionless face.

Hisoka blocked the light behind his back, and Illumi looked up at his face casted into shadows. Illumi was almost struck by how bright the golden eyes were, just like they were everytime Hisoka made his way right into Illumi’s field of vision, pressed close and wanting.

Hisoka brushed a thumb along Illumi’s bottom lip, and Illumi followed it with his eyes. He didn’t deny the tingle that shot through his spine at the contact anymore. However, the affectionate touch did cause him to tense up subtly and Hisoka removed his thumb.

“Have you changed your mind?”

Illumi had already decided. He’d let his hypocrisy burn to ashes -- _if he wanted Hisoka, he’d be his_.

Illumi wrapped his hands around Hisoka’s neck loosely and brought him down closer. A raw, deep voice he hardly recognized reverberated through his chest in a way he wasn’t sure had ever happened before, and he growled.

“ _No_.”

That’s all it took.

Hisoka’s mouth was on Illumi’s and, for once, Illumi fell into the kiss without resistance. Hisoka pressed up against Illumi with his knees on either side of him, nails carding against his scalp as their mouths moved in rhythm, almost fervently as Hisoka drank Illumi in completely. It was wet, and overly hot, as they both panted against eachother until Illumi was mouthing breathlessly against Hisoka. Hisoka broke the kiss but didn’t stop for a second, dipping down to plant a scorching trail of wet kisses down Illumi’s jaw, down to where flesh met clothing.

Without warning, Hisoka grabbed a card and slashed it through Illumi’s crop top and undershirt and tore it off in one swift motion, throwing the card to his left as it hit a shard of glass that wasn’t broken and continued flying out the window, lost forever. 

The hands around Hisoka’s neck tightened when he felt nails against his scalp tug his head back to leave more skin exposed to Hisoka’s attack and Illumi gasped when he felt Hisoka’s other hand firm on his stomach. 

The hand on his stomach traveled upwards almost reverently slowly while Hisoka mouthed down Illumi’s neck and made its voyage to his chest, leaving bites and left a glimmer of moisture on his skin-- it was much more painless, pleasing stimuli than Illumi was used to and he could only pant and gasp in response as he felt Hisoka smile against his skin.

Hisoka stopped his ravaging attack of bites and licks to press a deep kiss to Illumi’s pulse on his neck, and Illumi heard himself moan lowly, a needy sound that escaped him without his permission. Illumi knew his pulse was racing under Hisoka’s lips when he felt Hisoka drag his tongue under it-- Hisoka must have known how much he was being affected by his ministrations, with how Illumi was panting and sweating with his pulse racing, and Hisoka hadn’t even removed a scrap of his own clothes in offering. 

A need to take control flooded Illumi like a storm along with the heat building between them both like a thick fog, and he pushed Hisoka off of him with his hand on his neck, and sent them both tumbling down to the floor with a thud.

Hisoka looked up at Illumi in surprise. His pupils were blown wide, and the curtain of Illumi’s hair blocked the light around them. One strong hand kept both of Hisoka’s stilled above his head and his other hand, clawed, tore through the fabric of Hisoka’s shirt and croptop, continuing down to tear through his pants. Hisoka moaned as he was stripped down to only his boxers.

Almost as if Hisoka was clairvoyant, or just extremely privy to Illumi’s every movement and mood, Hisoka brought his hips up to press his erection against Illumi’s thigh-- _you do this to me, you affect me_. Illumi released his strong hold over Hisoka’s hands when Hisoka wrapped his legs around his waist and brought him down in a crash against his chest.

Their lips were just above eachother, eyes locked within the enclosure of Illumi’s hair and Illumi felt more than heard the deep rumble in Hisoka’s chest as both of their clothed erections pressed against eachother. Hisoka’s hands trailed down Illumi’s spine as it arched to add more friction to the contact of their flush bodies and mutual hardness, but Illumi didn’t move, challenging Hisoka to build the friction between them, to be the one bent under his will. 

Hisoka seemed to understand this, like he always did--he always seemed to follow Illumi’s train of thought-- because Hisoka was dragging his nail down Illumi’s spine in an endless and teasing back and forth motion, relishing in the gooseflesh that rippled across his skin and the way his head dipped down as he strained to keep his control, with eyes closed and flushed skin but still feeling Hisoka’s searing gaze on his face in an intensity that made Illumi feel that he was burning Illumi himself into his mind.

Hisoka groaned, conceding to Illumi’s control finally, as he rolled his hips up once, then once more, until he rolled into Illumi faster at a relentless pace. The movement made a dizziness sweep through Illumi as his chest heaved with his hot breath above Hisoka’s lips, and he furrowed his brows together and shut his eyes tighter. He felt Hisoka press his lips on his lids, a voiceless request and Illumi followed it, opening his eyes to stare into Hisoka’s intense and consuming gold eyes as he rolled himself into Illumi, wet and scorching and lewd and just Hisoka’s style, until arousal seeped out of him and he couldn’t help but roll his hips back as Hisoka rolled up. 

Lost in the feeling and heat, Illumi didn’t know when they started kissing again or when his hands went to cradle Hisoka’s face and sweep into his hair in an uncharacteristic touchiness Illumi didn’t know he had in him, but he definitely noticed when Hisoka’s hands went down to grab Illumi’s ass and push him harder against himself as their pace became merciless and fluid against eachother.

“Hisoka…… I--” Illumi heard himself say as he broke their kiss, voice slurred and thick with arousal as heat pooled in his stomach and threatened to burn him alive. Hisoka pressed a reverent kiss to his nose, understanding. 

Then with one slick motion, Hisoka stopped their grinding and flipped themselves around so that Illumi’s back met the carpeted floor and he hovered above him. Illumi had thought the situation would be reversed, with him pinning Hisoka and making him crumble and moan and fall away to pieces under his will as he pounded into him and relished in making him his-- but Hisoka looked at him like he wanted to devour Illumi alive but also take his time to savor the way Illumi knew he must appear-- hair damp and fanned around him like a sea of black, a strand stuck to the corner of his open and panting mouth, skin wet and flushed pink, wide-eyed and staring. 

Illumi lifted his legs as Hisoka met his movement to find purchase under his knees, and Illumi found that he didn’t care anymore. Hisoka hiked Illumi’s pants down, boxers including, and Illumi sighed as cool air embraced his heated cock. Illumi craned his head up as he hooked a foot in the hem of Hisoka’s boxers and drove it down, in response-- refusing to be exposed without Hisoka mutually also being exposed, defiantly. 

He didn’t have much time to think about it, as Hisoka dropped his hold of one leg to push a finger inside him and Illumi shuddered, throwing his craned head back. Hisoka worked the first finger in slowly, carefully, before working a second in and out as he moved closer to pepper kisses on Illumi’s face, making Illumi groan and turn his head to the side. Hisoka took the opportunity to kiss Illumi’s ear.

Hisoka’s voice came out in a low, deep rumble as he pressed kisses to Illumi’s temple, ear, cheekbone, as he asked between each kiss, “Is this why you refused Chrollo from joining us back at the estate? Is this what you wanted from the start?” 

Illumi panted as Hisoka continued to work him up, moaning deep in his throat when he felt Hisoka’s fingers curl as he did so. His head was still thrown to the side, not looking at Hisoka as he stared down at Illumi, tugging on his earlobe with his teeth insistently trying to pull the answer from Illumi with a sense of honest yearning.

Illumi raised his head to meet Hisoka’s eyes and his hands found purchase around Hisoka’s neck again, tightening dangerously close to choking, as he leaned up to press a firm kiss on Hisoka’s lips, and rasped out a single-- “Yes.” 

Hisoka shuddered and exhaled hard in a breathless moan, thrusting his fingers in and out faster and adding a third which made Illumi’s breath hitch and release Hisoka’s neck to desperately claw at his back instead, arching himself into him and pushing down against the fingers as another moan escaped him.

Hisoka licked his top lip in appreciation, not stopping the pace of his fingers as he asked, “Are you ready enough for me to--”

Illumi, completely heated at that point, bucked his hips up to press his fully erect member onto Hisoka’s bare thigh and breathed out in a low thick voice before Hisoka could finish his sentence, “Hisoka, if you don’t fuck me already, I might accidentally end up killing you.”

Hisoka’s fingers slowed, interrupted, as his eyes widened and he gave a genuine laugh, mixed in with a moan at Illumi’s very real threat-- it sounded strange, but Illumi’s eyes were half-lidded with desire and he was ready and the way the laugh made Hisoka’s chest rumble into his own made him feel like he was going to burst at the seams.

Hisoka didn’t miss a beat as he slipped his fingers out and immediately replaced it with his cock, his arm going back under Illumi’s knees and lifting them. He pushed in slowly as Illumi shivered and gasped, eyes slamming shut again and they breathed against eachother with heavy, slow heaves of their chests.

Hisoka kissed Illumi--and it felt tender, unlike the hot and scalding kisses they’ve shared thus far. It burned Illumi more than any of the others had. It felt uncharacteristic for them both, Illumi felt it like an alien presence on his lips that he should feel anything but the gnashing, numb pain of teeth ravaging him or chains and whips. Hisoka was not a stranger to any of those things, but he still kissed Illumi tenderly, like his heart wasn’t corrupted and eyes set deep with an endless darkness like Illumi’s was.

Hisoka moved his hips, slow, and then faster, until Illumi was made a mess with the thrusts with moans escaping him freely now, a stuttering, “Ah---Ah----Ah---” every time Hisoka pushed into him. The slow, tender moment was gone to fire that overtook them and Hisoka bent further forward, lifting Illumi up higher as he pushed into him harder--deeper. Hisoka tilted his head to bite at Illumi’s thigh at his side as he let it drop to wrap his hand around Illumi’s cock, already dripping with pre-cum at every thrust. 

The feeling almost took Illumi over as he felt himself coming closer-- his mind a haze and the only thing he felt was Hisoka pressed at every side, all around him, overtaking his senses in a cloud of desire that filled his mind like a powerful drug he wasn’t immune to. He heard his phone ring in the background of his thoughts and the chemical intoxicant of their touches, but Illumi didn’t care.

Distantly, between the blaze of heat that was pooling in his stomach and the flurry of sensations he felt consuming him, he felt Hisoka’s hair threaded in between his fingers and heard himself moaning.

“Hisoka-- Hisoka--- Hisoka----H” 

Hisoka responded by pulling out of Illumi almost completely, canting his hips higher as he slammed down in hard thrusts, at the same time jerking Illumi off. Illumi moaned loudly until it sounded more like a scream and words were ripped out of him, his vocabulary replaced entirely by -- _there, more, Hisoka, fuck_ \-- as Hisoka struck true. Like a flash of lighting, Illumi saw white as he was taken by the tide in a blistering rush of heat. 

“Hisoka-- I’m going to---” 

Hisoka reached down to kiss Illumi’s open mouth as his orgasm swept through him and he came. Hisoka relentlessly unaltering the roll of his hips as he chased after his own, Illumi was gone in a haze of white, and returned to his senses with his entire body tingling as he fixed his dazed eyes on Hisoka, who was groaning and sweating and close-- the rhythm between them broken, with Hisoka hitting deep and stuttering and Illumi, lazily and overwhelmed, rolling up to meet him.

Until finally, Hisoka’s breath hitched and he leaned down to kiss him once again. Illumi shivered and wrapped his arms around Hisoka’s shoulders weightlessly to deepen the kiss as Hisoka came inside him. The frantic grind slowly came to a halt as the spill of heat filled Illumi and Hisoka slid out, murmuring against his lips appreciatively punctuated by softer kisses.

Hisoka fell onto Illumi and they lay there chest to chest on the floor and still, catching their breath. Hisoka rolled off of Illumi finally and landed next to him. They both lay side by side, staring into the ceiling quietly for minutes after they regained control of their sporadic breathing and hammering heartbeats. Shoulders pressed against eachother, the cool breeze entering from the still broken window cooling their bodies with a shiver, and a comfortable silence washed over them as they basked in the golden glow of their thrumming bodies.

Illumi felt as blissfully empty as he made himself appear to the world, and he came to the quiet realization that Hisoka might be the only person that could see through the fact that Illumi wasn’t, in fact, so much of an empty shell to be used for destruction as he thought he was.

Illumi lazily mumbled, “Durians.”

Hisoka was dozing by his side and blinked, turning his head to look at Illumi.

“Hm?”

“That is my favorite fruit.”

Hisoka turned his body towards Illumi and wrapped a hand around his waist, bringing him in closer. He wasn’t even fazed by Illumi’s strangely-timed interjection at that point, as he planted a kiss on his shoulder and chuckled, endeared.

“I’ll buy you some.”

“They don’t ship durians here” Illumi sighed, bringing his head in to bonk against Hisoka’s. “That is basic knowledge you should know about international shipping of food products.”

“I’m a magician, you know. I’ll still bring you some.”

Illumi hummed in response, then suddenly remembered that his phone had been ringing earlier. He canted his head around the room, until he found his phone dropped hazardously near Hisoka, and Illumi reached a hand over Hisoka’s body to reach it.

When he grabbed it, Hisoka took the opportunity to hug Illumi in an action that felt way too affectionate, but Illumi didn’t mind. Illumi only unlocked his phone and opened up his missed call notifications as he let Hisoka wrap his hands around him and bring them close together as he pressed his nose under Illumi’s ear.

Illumi cocked a confused squint at the phone when he saw an unknown number under a message that started with -- _Hello Illumi. I forgot to give you my phone number, so I received it from Kalluto……_ \-- then froze when he read -- _1 missed call, 6 missed messages from Silva_ \--. 

Hisoka hummed curiously in his ear and wrapped a leg around him, effectively trapping him but it didn’t matter. He opened up the missed messages with a rapid finger.

\-- _Your mother is awaiting your return expectantly. Let me know when you are arriving._

_\--I have closed the deal with our client, but checked the main account and see no funds have come through. I am assuming the money was given directly with cash._

_\--Send updates. Your mother has begun to round up the butlers to prepare a nice dinner, although it is unnecessary. She has missed you._

_\--She is also agitated and the manor has not been quiet for hours. Zeno had to stop her before she killed one of the butlers._

_\--It has been over 10 hours, as you have calculated._

_\--11 hours. Is there an issue?_

Illumi stared at his phone, unblinking and neutral.

“Problems with father?” Hisoka said, and Illumi heard the grin in his voice. “Do you want me to deal with it? I’d love to fight him.”

Illumi was rapidly firing a text in his phone.

\-- _I apologize for the delayed response, my phone was turned off when I made the deal with the dealer for discretion. It was a cash deal to avoid virtual tracking. There was also a slight delay in the trip. I will not return for a while longer. Give my sincerest apologies to mother._ \--

Illumi didn’t feel good per say for lying to his father, but he strangely didn’t feel as distraught as he thought he would. He put his phone down and sighed against Hisoka’s neck, and finally responded.

“You will not fight my father.”

Hisoka responded by kissing his ear. “Would it upset you?”

Illumi replied without hesitation, leaning his forehead to rest on Hisoka’s throat. 

“No, but I will kill you if you try.” 

There was a genuinity to the threat that made Hisoka realize that Illumi meant it and he laughed loudly, the sound echoing between them. Illumi squinted up at him in a scowl and jabbed his tongue at Hisoka’s jugular, like a wet sloppy blade pressed against his neck, and it made Hisoka laugh harder as he brought Illumi even closer.

They stayed in that position for some time. Hisoka didn’t even question what Silva had written him, although it was probably obvious that he had to go with the way Hisoka had his legs and arms wrapped around him, as if he weren’t willing to let him leave even if Illumi tried. 

Illumi appreciated Hisoka not mentioning how Illumi --didn’t-- try. Instead they dozed off against eachother with their legs intertwined and bodies close, before a thought rose from the back of his head and prompted him to slap his hand in light taps against Hisoka’s cheek.

Illumi looked up and met Hisoka’s eyes who looked down to meet him, noses almost touching.

“Weren’t you evicted?”

Hisoka faceplanted as his eyes drifted off to the side and he hummed in his chest, eyebrows furrowing.

“Ah….”

\---

Illumi made his way through the guarded door of his father’s room. He stood tall with his face trained neutral, cold and lifeless like always, and dressed in his purple assassin’s gear when he stopped in front of his father.

  
Silva trained his sharp analyzing eyes on Illumi’s in a tense moment, as if he were about to mention in a cold shrill the fact that Illumi was before him several hours later than he had informed him, but the frigidity in his eyes dropped as he instead broke into a small smile.

“Good job on the mission well done, Illumi. You completed it two months sooner than expected and all the money has been accounted for. Your mother was also very happy to see you back.”

“Thank you, father.”

Silva’s smile disappeared as he went back to his stoic face of calculated business.

“You may return to your room to recover from the long mission. Your mother has prepared for you a dinner to enjoy downstairs, after. I have already received your next mission and will send for you in a few days. This mission is expected to last five months.”

Illumi didn’t blink, only listened intently at attention.

Silva cocked a smile that tugged on only one side, “But with your skill, I expect it will only take you three.” With that, Silva dismissed Illumi with a final nod of his head.

But Illumi didn’t leave.

Silva regarded him curiously, prompting him to speak finally with a strong quirk of one brow.

“I intend to recruit Hisoka as a business partner into the foreseeable future for the duration of these long missions, father.”

Silva hummed in his chest, the sound like faint roar of thunder in the distance as he tried to associate the name to an identity.

“The clown?”

Illumi nodded.

“We have already rented an apartment complex in Yorkshin. It will be our intermediate base for the missions that do not include travelling far distances.”

Silva was surprised, at that one. His eyes widened and he blinked at his son, who stood with an unchanging blank stare and also completely serious.

Silva rubbed a hand on his chin, his strong brows pinched together as he thought about it.

His son had rented an apartment complex to be shared with a permanent business partner-- the clown _Hisoka_ , no less-- a decision made on his own. It was such a thin possibility that Silva might have expected from any of his other children, but it came from Illumi, his eldest, the one most attached to his life here, at the Zoldyck manor. Silva wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Well…. I don’t see.. An issue with that decision.” Silva narrowed his gaze at his son suspiciously, before dropping it and adding with confidence. “You are allowed to live there for the duration of such missions, but for everyone’s sake, I suggest you keep it from Kikyo, for now at least.”

Illumi nodded.

“Thank you father. I will take my leave now.”

As he turned around to walk out the door to his room, a ping rang in his pocket, perfectly timed. Illumi already knew who it was from.

He pulled it out, sending Hisoka an update before pocketing the phone as he made his way downstairs. The corners of his lips raised almost imperceptibly, that you’d have to squint to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHH and that’s it! i had so much fun writing this it’s almost hard to believe omg. Thank you all who supported me with your lovely comments, honestly that's what kept me motivated me enough to actually finish this fic (a first achievement lmfaodklfjs). I hope you enjoyed this as much as i did writing <3 <3 <3.
> 
> Follow me at https://prussia-is-too-awesome-for-maps.tumblr.com/ i need more hxh buddies and blogs to follow lol.
> 
> Bye for now! :D

**Author's Note:**

> i dont even know dude, i started this fic for the sole purpose of wanting to provide the hisoillu fandom with another very underappreciated hisoillu dynamic-- the "illumi is lowkey hella weird and hisoka is just often thrown for a whole ass loop, at random" dynamic. bc i think it fits them well. and i imagined illumi eating a lemon like a fruit and i think that made a switch inside me flip. and i guess a plot occurred??? is this fic even decent, i dont know the last time i've written anything even remotely like a fic was when i was like 14.  
> hisoillu is fun <3.


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